Fragments
by draagonfly
Summary: SEQUEL TO GREEN LIGHT OF POWER - After the war. Shows fraagments of different characters lives. (Contains SLASH) (Multiple pairings)
1. Let's Go Home

_I am hereby officially apologizing to anyone who has me on their author alert list...you are about to get a lot of emails. I am moving Fragments into its own story instead of keeping it inside of GLOP. Sorry!_

_Here it is..._

**Fragments**

Let's go Home

"Good afternoon Arthur. Er…Minister."

"Afternoon, Harry," replied the friendly red-headed man happily.

Arthur Weasley had been sworn in as Minister for Magic two days before.

Harry Potter opened the door to the room his parents had been in at St. Mungo's for the last week. "They're just through here," he said, leading the way through the way into the room.

"Wonderful," said Arthur.

The curtain around Lily and James Potter's beds was drawn open, and Harry blushed to see his mother sitting on his father's lap, their lips touching lightly.

Arthur cleared his throat. "Erm…sorry to disturb you, but I need you to sign these papers before we're allowed to tear up your death certificates."

Lily slid off of her husbands lap and on to her feet. "Gladly," she said. It felt strange to her, being legally deceased, and it would be a relief for her to finally change that.

Arthur set his file down on the desk by the door and pulled two sets of papers from it. He showed Lily where to initial and where to sign, and then did the same for James.

"Thank's a lot for doing all of this yourself, I know you have a lot of work to do," James told Arthur.

"Oh it's my pleasure. I'll go tear up the papers now. I suppose you'll be back in Godric's hollow soon?" The Minister asked.

"Today, actually. We've just been released from hospital," Lily said thankfully.

Arthur smiled. "Well, good luck. Have a nice day." And with that he strode out of the room.

"Are you done packing?" Harry asked his parents. '_My parents…_' Harry thought. It still sounded strange to Harry.

"Yeah, let's go get Sirius," James replied.

Sirius had broken his arm during the battle, and due to the huge ammounts of magic left in his body from the magical bond he had had with Harry, Ginny and Draco, They had been unable to heal it right away. When the magic finally faded, the day before, it had been healed, and Sirius was now ready to leave the hospital. However, he refused to continue living in his mother's house, ad now that he was a free man, he could live wherever he chose. James and Lily had offered to let him live with them, and he had happily accepted.

Harry was extremely happy about this. Not only would he be living with his God Father, something he had dreamed about since his third year at Hogwarts, he was also going to live with his parents, something he had dreamed about, but never really hoped for, his entire life.

The family crossed the hall and went into another room, where they found Sirius packing the last of his things and zipping shut his bag.

"Ready?" Sirius asked, looking up.

The group nodded. "Let's go home…"

(A/N – I know, I know, it's really short. That's just an intro. Starting next chapter, I'm going to switch to the POV's of different characters, to show little pieces, or Fragments, of their lives after the war. I will say who's POV it is at the beginning of each chapter.

Please review and keep reading!)


	2. Confusion Amid Relief

(A/N - So here's the first real chapter. Nothing much to say…except, Enjoy!)

Chapter1 – Confusion Amid Relief – Ron's POV

I stretched out on my bright orange bed spread, glad to finally be home. It had been a long summer.

I'm so glad Harry and Mione got together, they are so perfect for each other. I myself am feeling really confused.

I do want to have a relationship, but I…Well, I don't think I'm interested in girls. Ok, I know I'm not. I haven't told anyone yet. I wasn't sure at first, but I've had time to think about it and now I'm sure. I'm gay.

I found a dirty magazine under Fred's pillow once, and I decided to look through it. What I saw didn't interest me at all. That's what got me thinking. It had never crossed my mind before, but now that I thought about it, it all fit.

When I found out about Ginny and Malfoy, I couldn't stay mad long. He's just so hot; I can see why she's interested. Not that I want her to, but…

The problem is, I'm scared to tell anyone. I haven't had to think about it for a while, what with the war, and the aftermath of the war. But now there's nothing else to think about, so I'm stuck with it. I don't know how Harry and Mione will react, let alone my brothers. That would be a nightmare.

I suppose I really shouldn't worry about telling Harry and Hermione. If they really are the friends I know they are, they won't care. I'm just…a little insecure.

I laid on my bed thinking about it for a couple of hours before drifting off to sleep.

"Ronald Weasley, get up this instant!" Molly Weasley shouted right into my face.

I groaned.

"I've been calling you for twenty minutes! You've got to get ready for school; we're leaving in half an hour!

"Alright, I'm up…" I rolled out of bed and dragged myself into the shower.

Five minutes later I emerged wide awake and refreshed. Thankfully, Mum had made me pack my trunk the night before, so I locked it up and dragged it down the stairs.

I had all new school books and robes this year. Dad's new job had its benefits.

I tossed a few pieces of bacon onto a piece of bread and practically swallowed it whole.

After I finished eating, I ran back upstairs to brush my teeth. I was half way back down the stairs when I heard Mum yelling, "Hurry up, you two! Get your trunks in the car. We're going to be late!"

I ran the rest of the way down and began lugging my trunk over to the car.

We ran through Kings Cross station with our luggage trolleys, each leaning casually against the barrier to platform nine and three quarters in turn. Just as I fell through the barrier the train's whistle sounded.

"I'll miss you, both of you. Have fun, be good, owl us if you've forgotten anything." Mum gave me and Ginny a hug and pushed us towards the train. "Go on, it's leaving! Bye!"

We jumped on just as the door slid closed.

"Come on, let's go find our compartment," said Ginny.

We put our trunks into a storage compartment and slowly started making our way through the train, pausing to say hi to anyone we knew.

I noticed that everyone seemed cheerful, like a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. And I supposed it had. Now that you-know-who is dead, everyone can relax and feel safe.

We reached the very last compartment on the train. Malfoy, Harry, Hermione, Luna, and that Blaise Zabini boy I've never spoken to.

"Draco!" Ginny cried happily. She ran over to him and sat on his lap, kissing him lightly. I turned towards Harry and Mione. Harry was smiling widely. "Hey, mate. How was the rest of your summer?"

"Too short," I replied. "Now it's back to work again," I said, but in good humor.

"Come, sit," said Mione, patting the seat next to her. I sat.

"Why is that Zabini kid here," I asked in a whisper.

"Malfoy brought him. Apparently his father locked him up when he told his family he didn't want to fight for Voldemort." I winced when she said the name.

"Oh Ron, He's dead. There's no harm in saying his name now."

"Just a habit," I said.

After the start of year feast, and a long speech about the war from Dumbledore, the lot of us were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Ginny didn't want to leave Malfoy behind, and since he couldn't come into the Gryffindor common room without the permission of the head of house, the great hall was the only place for us to be.

Harry and I were playing wizard's chess…or should I say…I was royally kicking Harry's ass at wizard's chess. Gin and Malfoy were at the end of the table, talking in low whispers. I didn't even want to think about what they were saying.

I finally felt completely relaxed and at home for the first time since then end of fourth year, when you-know…er…Voldemort, came back.

(A/N - Please review!)


	3. Missing You

Chapter2 – Missing You – James' POV

It was hard, letting Harry go off for school. I haven't seen him in 15 years, I get a month with him, and then he has to leave again.

At least I'm with Lily now.

You don't feel when your dead. You don't eat, you don't breath. And you don't feel anything. You could walk right into something and not even notice unless you see it. Before we crossed back through the veil, I had not kissed my wife in 15 years.

When we got home from the train station, Lily jumped on me and pushed me down onto the couch. She straddled me lap.

"You know what normal parents do as soon as the kids are finally out of the house?" she asked slyly.

"Mourn the loss?" I replied sarcastically.

She smiled evilly. "Not quite…" And then she smothered me with her mouth.

The next four hours were the best in my life. I had not had sex in 15 bloody years. I could have cried.

Anyways, but the next morning all either of us wanted to do was see Harry again.

After breakfast we owled him. We asked when the first Hogsmeade weekend was. We got our reply a little while after lunch. He said he didn't know, but he'd owl us as soon as the notice was put up on the message board.

A few weeks later the owl from Harry arrived saying that their first Hogsmeade weekend would be that weekend. Lily was ecstatic. Almost hyper. It was actually kind of cute. She said she was going to take Harry shopping. I told her there would be plenty of time for that later, and that I was sure that he would want to do that when his classmates weren't around.

It took quite a bit of persuading but I convinced her that we would have a drink and meet Harry's friends and then leave him alone.

When the weekend finally rolled around, we apparated to the Three Broomsticks. We sat at the bar for a while before the students came, chatting with Rosmerta about when we were in school.

When Harry arrived he nearly crushed Lily in a hug, before doing the same to me.

"Can I get a butterbeer, please, Rosmerta?" I asked.

"Oh, come on, get me a firewhiskey," said Harry.

Lily laughed. "In your dreams, Harry."

The door chimed and Harry ran over and pulled his friends over.

"Morning, Mrs. Potter," said Hermione, sitting down next to Lily.

"Eugh, do I look that old? Lily, please," Lily cried.

Hermione laughed. Ron slid into the seat beside her.

Harry sighed. "Er…Mum. Could you…move over," he asked, tilting his Head towards his girlfriend.

Lily laughed and moved into the seat on the other side of mine.

Harry sat in his seat and kissed Hermione on the cheek.

Rosmerta put Harry's bottle down in front of him and scanned the group. "Two more, then?" she asked.

"Go for it," I said. I pulled my money pouch out of Lily's purse and placed six sickles on the counter. "Keep the change."

"So Harry, how are your classes going?" asked Lily.

"Well, I'm getting tons of homework. But everything's alright except my NEWT level potions class. I've only gotten marks for about three assignments, Snape somehow manages to give me zeros for just about everything," Harry sighed.

"Is he giving you trouble?" I asked, a little angry. "I'll deal with him."

"Dad…it's ok. I can handle it."

"He's in a position of power and he's abusing it just to make you miserable. I can deal with it," I replied. Snape would never cease to anger me. He would not destroy my son's future career over some stupid school-boy grudge with me. I was going to talk with Dumbledore.

Lily sighed. "Alright, let's go to Honeydukes," she said.

I could tell she wanted to spoil Harry, having not been in his life for his entire childhood. She wanted to make up for lost time, and for the time Harry had been forced to spend with her sister and brother-in-law.

I felt the same way. Harry had barely had a childhood. He'd grown up with his uncaring relatives, and then had been thrown into a world where everyone knew his name and the entire world he now knew relied on him for safety. It was not something an eleven year old boy should have to go through.

So we bought Harry and his friends some chocolate frogs and fizzing whisbys.

Harry bought Hermione a rose, which Lily then wove through Hermione's braid.

For lunch we went to a small café off Main Street, which most of the students did not know of. We were joined by Ron's sister Ginny, and her boyfriend Draco.

Draco could not be seen with Ginny by his housemates, as most of them were the children of death eaters, and some even death eaters themselves, and viewed Draco as a traitor. He had been given his own private room, away from his house dormitories, for his safety. They could not know about Ginny, as they would view her as a tool to get to him if ever they felt the need. This was why we chose the almost empty café.

Lily and I loved being in Harry's company, but the day could not last long enough, and soon the students had to return to school. We said our goodbyes and headed home as well. We would be missing Harry until their next Hogsmeade weekend.


	4. Dirty Magazines

Chapter3 – Dirty Magazines – Draco's POV

Everyone had left the café except for Ginny and me. I ordered us hot chocolates and we sat in silence.

"This isn't fair," Gin broke the silence. "I hate you're stupid father and your stupid housemates and your stupid life. Why can't they just stay the fuck away from us…?" She was acting angry but I could tell she was about to cry. I slid off my chair and onto the booth seat next to her, slipping my arm around her waist.

"Shhhh…I know. But as soon as stuff cools down a bit everything will be fine. Then we can do whatever we want," I tried to sooth her. "Besides…we can do whatever we want in private."

"Yeah, which is like never? Other than at night we are never alone together."

"I know…" I brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her.

"You should leave soon. I need to get back." We could not leave the café at the same time. We decided I was going to stay here alone for a few minutes.

A single tear threatened to fall down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away. "Ok," she whispered, pressing her lips into mine. She whispered "I love you," into my ear.

"Are you coming to my room tonight?" I asked. She nodded and then walked out of the café, leaving me with my hot chocolate.

That night at dinner I sat with Blaise at the end of the Slytherin table, quite a ways down from any of my housemates.

I was a little pissed off at the world at the moment. I was going over every bad thing hat had been done to me in my life.

"Honestly, I'm just about ready to fuck my safety and go sit with the fucking Gryffindors. I'd really much rather sit with them that with this lot."

Blaise didn't respond.

"I mean, it's not like I did anything to them personally. They're all stupid and worthless anyways. I mean, who would want to follow a nut job who's been defied by a sixteen year old a million bloody times in the first place? It all seems rather stupid, don't you think?"

Blaise continued to watch the ripples in his pumpkin juice.

"Ok… what are you thinking about? Nobody ignores me, it must be important," I asked.

He looked up as I lightly kicked his shin under the table. "Huh? Oh…Well, um, there's something I need to tell you." He picked up his fork and began playing with his mashed potatoes. "It's…kind of important."

"Ok… Go ahead," I said.

"Um…are you gonna judge me?" He asked, looking worried.

I looked at him strangely. "What?" I asked, confused.

He sighed. "Um…You know that Finnegan kid?" he asked.

"The gay one?" I asked. "What about him…oh…" I raised my eyebrow at him. "Are you gay?" I asked.

He nodded.

I laughed with relief that it wasn't something terrible.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked, still looking worried.

"I thought you were going to say something bad. That's cool, Zabini. I don't care, you know? Whatever floats your boat…no pun intended."

He laughed out loud with the same relief I had just felt. "That's great. Thanks. I'm going to go do homework now. I'll talk to you later."

"Sure," I said. He left the great hall.

That night, I was sitting in the private common room Blaise and I share, waiting for Gin to show up. It was well past curfew; hopefully she would be here soon.

Blaise came in and flopped himself down on the sofa by the fire with a thin, black bound book. He flipped it open and began scanning the pages. There was no way he was reading the book. He was flipping way too fast.

I cleared my throat and turned back to the Charms text I was pretending to study.

I looked up at Blaise every few minutes. He kept shifting around in his seat and wiping his face with his hand.

_With this particular banishing spell, the wizard who banished the object… _Merlin. I could not concentrate.

I looked back up at Blaise just as a bead of sweat rolled down his head.

"What in Merlin's name are you reading?" I asked.

He jerked, as if coming out of a trance. "Huh? Oh…History of Magic text," he said, turning back to his book.

"Like hell you are," I said. "The History of Magic text is like 3000 pages long. That thing is like 50." I jumped up and tried to grab the book from his hands.

He quickly muttered a banishing charm and it disappeared.

"Bloody fucking hell, Zabini. What could possibly be so bad?" If only I had been paying attention to the stupid Charms book.

"…You don't want to know," he replied.

"Oh, come on," I persisted. "I think I can handle it."

He raised his eyebrows at me, before reaching under the sofa he was sitting on and pulling out my hidden copy of PlayWizard. "Don't think I don't know about these," he said. He threw the magazine at me.

I look at it for a minute. "Wait…" No, it couldn't be. "Oh, Merlin. Please don't tell me you were looking at naked men!"

He laughed out loud. "Please don't tell me you've been looking at naked women," he replied, waving a second magazine from under the sofa.

I rolled my eyes. Just then there was an almost silent knock on the entrance. '_Perfect timing, babe_,' I thought. I shoved the magazines back under the sofa and went over to let Ginny in.

I opened the entrance and let her in, invisibility cloak sliding off her shoulders as she stepped into the common room.

"Hey," I whispered, stepping forward ad kissing her hard on the lips.


	5. Getting To Know You

Chapter4 – Getting To Know You – Blaise's POV

Draco pressed Ginny back into the wall beside the entrance with his hips and held her there, his lips running up and down her neck.

I rolled my eyes, conjured my magazine, and sat back down on the sofa I had been previously sitting on.

Gin moaned really loudly and I turned to see that Draco had his leg between her thighs. I shook my head and tried really hard to think of the guys in my magazine rather than the pair making out by the door.

I was horrified to hear a zipper opening. I looked and was thankful that it was only Ginny's jumper, but I really didn't want to witness what was next.

"Ahem!" I coughed loudly. Draco flipped me off without turning his head away from her neck.

"Excuse me ladies!" I said loudly. "When the clothing starts coming off, it is time to move into an empty room. Preferably with a bed, for your own comfort."

Ginny spun Draco around and now had him pinned to the wall while she unfastened his robes, completely ignoring me.

"I'll drag you! Don't make me come over there!" Her hands went lower and lower until they reached his pants.

"Oh no. No way. Stop!" I jumped up and pulled her off him, breaking their kiss.

"What!" asked Ginny.

I pointed to Draco's partially unfastened pants.

She laughed, "Oh, sorry…" before grabbing him by his tie and dragging him into his room.

I sighed and slowly walked back over to my seat, not really in the mood for looking at the magazine any more.

Finnegan was the only other gay guy I knew of at Hogwarts. There were quite a few hot ones; Draco was one of them, and it scared me how much that Weasley kid turned me on. I guess I just have a thing for red hair or something. But let's face it; they're all straight so I don't have a chance.

I have never even been in a relationship before, and I've yet to kiss a guy.

"Oh, Merlin, Draco!"

Oh, for the love a Merlin. I jumped up and banged loudly on Draco's bedroom door. "Haven't you two ever heard of a silencing charm!" I yelled. I quickly cast one and went back to my seat in silence to moan in self pity some more.

The next day, I walked into transfiguration, only to see (to my great disgust) that there was no teacher present and Potter and Granger were making out against the back wall. I almost gagged.

I happened to turn my gaze towards Weasley, who was sitting in the back row, at the same moment he turned towards me.

For some unknown reason, my heart raced. And then, it was like a blaring siren in my head. My gaydar went off. Loudly.

My jaw dropped. '_Wait…_' I thought. '_Maybe my gaydar is off today…_'

I looked around the room to see if it randomly went off at anyone else. '_Nope…just Finnegan, as usual_'

So, it would appear as if the Boy Wonder's little friend is a fag, then. Awesome. This was going to be so much fun.

I walked over and dropped into the seat next to him. "Looks like you're going to be lonely today, with the lovebirds sitting together and all…" I said.

He gave me a '_Why the hell are you talking to me_' look and replied, "I suppose."

"How would you like a new seat buddy?" I asked.

"Uh…" He didn't seem to have an answer.

"Oh go on, it'll be fun. We won't pay attention, we'll never study, and we'll both just barely scrape an 'acceptable'," I tried to persuade him.

"Erm…alright. As long as you're not some freaky, twisted, backwards spy or something."

I faked a shocked expression and sarcastically said, "I'm offended you would think such a thing of me."

I put my books down on the table and leaned back in the chair, pullinga small mirror out of my pocket and starting to fix my hair.A few seconds before McGonagall walked in, Potter and Granger slid into their seats at the table in front of us, both eyeing Weasley strangely but not saying anything.

When McGonagall began her lecture, I extended my hand towards Weasley. "Blaise Zabini. Call me Blaise," I said.

"Ron, then, Blaise," he replied, shaking my hand with a friendly smile.

'_So, the kid can actually be civil when you're not threatening him or making fun of his mother_,' I thought.

I pulled my cleverly disguised magazine out of my book bag, and balanced it, closed, on my lap. I pulled a piece of parchment from my bag, and a quill and ink, and put them on the book. I wrote;

**So, have you any idea what she's going on about?**

And he responded;

I haven't a clue, have you?

**Of course not, I've got much more interesting things to think about.**

Well, I suppose to be completely fair, there isn't much out there that's less interesting to think about… but what are you thinking about?

**I can't tell you, it's top secret.**

Ah, so you _are_ a spy then?

**Hah, not quite what I was thinking. I think you'll find out soon enough.**

He eyed me strangely, but McGonagall had started firing random questions at the class so we decided to pay attention for a while.

"Ok, I'm going to hand out these tea cups that I have previously transfigured from mice, and you turn them back. Ok? Go."

I found myself with a teacup in front of me and no idea how to turn it back into a mouse.

"So… I suppose you didn't catch the part where she told us what to do, did you?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope," he replied. He turned towards Granger and whispered, "Hey, Mione!"

I jabbed him in the ribs. "No! I am not accepting help from Granger. I'll look it up. Just wait."

"Oh, got a problem with her do you?" he asked angrily.

"Only that it would insult my Slytherin pride to accept help from a Gryffindor… as you should know."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Look it up." He leaned back into his seat, arms crossed over his chest.

'_Damn, he looks sexy when he's pissed_,' I thought.

I flipped open my book and began absently scanning for 'Reverse Transfiguration.'

"So, Weas- er…Ron… any personal secrets you'd like to share with me?" I asked conversationally.

He squinted at me. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, you know. Juicy details on your love life…"

"Haven't got a love life," he grumbled.

"Alright, your sex life then."

"Nope, no sex life either."

"Waiting for the right girl then, I assume?" I asked.

"Never mentioned a girl," he muttered, almst to quietly to be heard, but I caught it.

'_So I **was** right…_'

"So, you're into guys too, then?" I asked, still sounding conversational.

The lok on his face clearly said; 'Oh, Merlin. Oh, shit shit shit. He heard me,' before he re-thought what I'd said.

"Wait…did you say '**too**'?" he asked, sounding shocked.

'_So…somebody's gaydar isn't quite hooked up right yet_,' I thought.

I wiggled my eyebrows at him, and his jaw dropped.

I lauged and turned my eyes back to the text in front of me.


	6. Pairing Up

Chapter5 – Pairing Up – Hermione's POV

It sounded as if Ron was choking behind us. I turned and say that he was coughing and spluttering.

"What's going on, Ron?" I asked.

Harry and I had both sensed danger when we saw Zabini sitting with Ron.

Ron cleared his throat. "Ahem, oh, it's nothing. Don't worry, Mione. I'm fine…" He turned back to Zabini with his mouth hanging open. Harry cocked an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. I'd get it out of him later.

I turned back to my tea cup, flicked my wand and said the incantation. The mouse nearly ran off the edge of the desk before I caught it by its tail.

I looked over at Harry to see that he was concentrating hard. He whirled his wand and said the incantation. Nothing happened.

"Harry, like this." I put my hand over his on the wand and moved it in the correct flicking motion. "You try it."

He flicked his wand and it flew from his hand and landed on the floor in front of the table. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Oh, excellent job, Miss Granger. First in the class to succeed at this spell," said Professor McGonagall. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

Harry slumped back in his chair. I summoned his wand and gave it back to him. "Try it again, one more time," I encouraged him.

He flicked his wand and a wiggly tail grew in place of the handle.

I laughed. "It's a start," I said.

Then the bell rang to signal the beginning of lunch break.

"I want you all to read the chapter on Reverse Transfiguration! Test on it next class!" McGonagall called over the rustle of closing books and the clang of chairs being pushed under the desks.

Harry slipped his hand into mine as we left the classroom.

"Do you want to go put our bags away before we go to lunch?" he asked.

"Yeah, ok," I replied.

When we reached Gryffindor tower, I noticed a crowd around the message board. I pushed up onto my toes to see over their heads.

"Oh, Harry, there's going to be a Halloween ball next Saturday!" I said excitedly, reading the poster on the board.

"Oh really?" he asked.

I nodded.

"So, do I have to ask you to go with me, or is that a given?" he asked.

I laughed. "I suppose it's a given," I said.

He smiled and leaned down to kiss me lightly. "Let's go to lunch, I whispered against his lips.

"Ok." He took my hand and we went down to the great hall for lunch.

We were sitting with Ginny and Ron at lunch. Out of nowhere, Ginny yelled, "Ouch!" She looked down at the ground, rubbing the back of her head, and picked up a large pebble. She looked around behind her for the person who threw the pebble.

I spotted Draco standing behind the next table looking at her, and pointed him out to her. He signaled towards the doors to the entrance hall and headed out there himself. She rolled here eyes and got up to join him.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said.

She returned a few minutes later, her hair slightly messed up and her cheeks pink.

"What did he want, Gin?" Harry asked.

"Well since we can't really go to the ball, he asked me to hang out by the lake on Saturday," she replied.

"That's nice," I said. "Be careful not to be seen, though…" I added.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "As if every single person that knows about us hasn't told me that about fifteen million times already. I get it," she said.

"Ginny, come on. You don't need to be rude…" Ron started.

"Just making sure," I said before they could start bickering.

After dinner that night we were in the library studying and doing homework. It was empty other than us, as it was a Friday night and most people were relaxing before their weekend. I had convinced everyone to get their work done now so they could relax all weekend.

I was getting kind of tired. I closed my book to take a break and leaned my head on Harry's shoulder. He capped his ink bottle and slid his arm around me, pressing his lips to my temple. I was just about to turn and kiss him when I heard someone clear their throat loudly. I looked over and saw Zabini standing by Ron.

"Mind if I borrow him for a moment? I'm sure you two won't miss him," he winked. Ron blushed slightly, his ears turning pink.

I raised my eyebrow. "Um…go ahead," I replied, turning back to Harry.

But Harry no longer wanted to kiss. "What's with them? He's been acting really weird lately."

I sighed. "I know. But he'll tell us when he's ready. If we try and force stuff out of him he pulls in farther."

"You're right. I just hope he's not going to get hurt before we find out what's going on."

"He can take care of himself," I said, pressing my lips lightly against his.

"Come on," he said, packing up his book bag. "Let's go back to Gryffindor Tower."

I picked up my books and followed him out of the Library.

I was lying on a sofa in the common room, my head resting on Harry's lap, when Ron came in.

"What did Zabini want, Ron?" asked Harry.

"Huh? Oh…He um, had a question about that reverse transfiguration thing we were doing in class today," Ron stammered.

Harry cocked an eyebrow but did not press any further.

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you two in the morning." He disappeared up the stars to his dorm.

I slid up the sofa and into Harry's lap, kissing him deeply.

"Mmmm," he moaned softly, sliding his hand into my hair. I slid my hand under his t-shirt and lightly stroked is hard abs.

He pulled his lips about an inch from mine. "You want to come to my room?" he whispered nervously.

I thought for a moment before nodding and kissing him again.

(A/N - Thanks for reading. Please review!


	7. Reactions

(A/N – So this chapter is about twice the length of my usual chapters. I had a lot I needed to get in…so here it is.  
Oh…just in case, here's a little back up on the gay lingo. I'm sure everyone knows this, but... just in case.  
Being outed – Someone telling a person or people that you are gay.  
Coming out – Obviously, telling a person or people that you are gay.  
Being out – You already told a person or people that you are gay.)

Chapter6 – Reactions – Ron's POV

I was just about to take a bite of toast at breakfast when Blaise tapped on my shoulder.

"Can you eat and walk?" he asked.

I nodded, grabbing a napkin and a few pieces of toast and following him out onto the grounds.

"How are you?" I asked as we walked out into the cool, early morning, fall air.

"Starving, actually," he replied. "Didn't eat before I came to get you."

I offered him a piece of toast.

"Thanks," he said, taking one.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, until we were at the opposite side of the lake.

"So…" He said, sounding almost nervous.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Um…well…You know this Halloween ball thing?" he asked. Yeah, he was definitely nervous.

I smiled. "Yeah?"

"Er…are you going?" he asked.

"I don't know…" I replied. "Mione and Harry probably won't pay much attention to me. I'll be sitting there by myself the whole time."

"Uh…You wanna go?" He asked, his voice actually quavering with nervousness.

My face broke out into a grin. "Yeah, sure. That would be great." I could feel my face burning, and I could see that Blaise's was too.

There was an awkward silence before Blaise laughed nervously. I laughed out loud and took a bite of my toast.

We kept going on our way around the lake. "So…are you out to anyone else?" I asked him.

"Just Draco. Haven't really got anyone else to come out to, to be honest. No family…" He responded. "Sorry…that sounded dramatic."

"No…You want to tell me what happened during the summer?" I asked.

He thought for a few moments. "Want to go around the lake once more? This will take a while," he asked.

I nodded and kept walking.

"Well…I guess you probably know that in my family it's kind of a given that we're supposed to become death eaters when we're old enough…" He started.

"So I was really thinking about whether or not I wanted to follow some nut job who was defeated by a one year old. I mean, really. And I decided against it. Well…telling my father this was a big mistake. He didn't…appreciate it very much." He paused.

I didn't say anything. I just waited until he was ready to continue.

"He like…um…beat me. And then he locked me in the dungeons in the manor. All I had was water for two weeks."

I felt like my heart was being torn out.

"And he came in and beat me again almost every day. And um…Then Dumbledore found out and sent people to come and get me. I stayed at Hogwarts in the hospital wing for the last week before school started." There was dead silence when he finished telling his story.

I couldn't help it. His story was so horrible. I grabbed his arm and pulled him close to me, hugging him warmly.

His arms slid around my waist. "Are you ok?" I whispered.

He pulled out of my arms and rolled up his left sleeve, revealing his forearm. In the place where Snape and the other death eaters' dark mark had been, the word '_Traitor_' had been cut into his arm. The cut was healed, but the scar was dark and very visible.

"My father did that," he said. "He tied me down and…yeah..."

"Merlin…" I said, stunned.

"Well…I never have to go back there again. Thanks to Dumbledore. He probably saved my life."

I hugged him again. I looked up at his face and saw a single tear trickling down his cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb and he blushed. "Sorry…" he said.

"Don't worry about it," I said quietly, smiling slightly.

"Um, do you mind if we stay out here for a while longer?" he asked. "I don't really feel like going back in there like this," he said, indicating his eyes which were wet and a little red.

"Of course," I said. We wandered over to a large rock right by the lake and sat on it, looking out at the water. The giant squid's tentacles occasionally broke the surface, making large ripples.

He slid closer to me, so we were sitting right against each other. I casually rested my hand on my knee by his arm. He got the hint and took my hand.

I actually had butterflies in my stomach. I could feel my face going red again. Damn having red hair and being prone to blushing. (A/N – I know what that's like.)

He smiled and squeezed my hand lightly. I smiled back.

"Um…can I be honest with you?" Blaise asked, blushing again.

I looked over at him. "Please, do," I said.

"Um…I've kind of…had a thing for you…since fifth year."

My eyes widened. "Really?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he replied, staring at his feet. I smiled. "I think it's the hair," he said. "I have this thing for guys with red hair. It's so fucking sexy…"

I pushed his chin up with my hand and pecked him lightly on the lips. His hand came up and rested on my cheek as he deepened our kiss.

I pulled away and rested my forehead against his. "We should go in. Harry and Mione are suspicious enough of me already; they might come looking for me."

We jumped down from the rock and walked back towards the school, fingertips lightly brushing each others'.

o

When I got back to Gryffindor tower I flopped onto a couch in the common room. It was almost empty.

I couldn't help but remember the feeling of Blaise's lips on mine.

I needed to come out to Harry and Mione. And Gin, too, if I was going to go to the ball with him. And I had to do it soon. I didn't want to do it the day of the ball…It would be too fresh.

I lay there on the couch, building up my courage.

The portrait hole opened and Harry climbed through, followed by Hermione.

"There you are, Ron. We've been looking for you," said Mione.

"You two have perfect timing. Can we go up to the dorm? I need to tell you something."

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks before following me upstairs to the dormitory I share with Harry and the other Gryffindor sixth years.

My heart was pounding with nervousness. I had no idea where either of them stood on the subject.

They both sat down on my bed, and I leaned against the corner post.

"So…um…I've started talking to Blaise for a reason," I started.

"Go on, Ron," Hermione coaxed me.

"Um, well…you probably don't know that…Blaise is…Gay." I exhaled loudly.

"Oh," said Harry. "Well, good for him. But what's this got to do with you…"

"Shhhh," said Hermione. "Let him finish." It was clear to me that Hermione already know what I was going to say. Harry, on the other hand…

"I'm…gay, too," I said.

Hermione was smiling widely.

"Oh!" said Harry. "I get it…cool!" he said.

"You're…ok with it?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course we are!" said Hermione. "How could we not be, you're our best friend. We would never let something like that ruin our friendship."

I sighed with relief.

"So…what about Zabini?" asked Harry.

"Oh, um…He asked me to the ball today. That's where I was a breakfast."

"Nice job, Ron. He's hot," said Hermione.

"Mione!" cried Harry.

"What?" she asked. "Oh…well, he's not as hot as you, Harry." I laughed. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Anyways…" I said. "I just wanted to tell you before the ball, you know…"

"Thanks for trusting us, Ron," said Mione.

"Of course. You're my best friends," I responded.

o

The next morning at breakfast, I asked Ginny to come into the entrance hall with me. We stood just beside the doors to the great hall, leaning casually against the wall. I was nervous, but not quite as nervous as I had been with Harry and Hermione. Telling them had boosted my confidence.

"So, um…I've got something to tell you."

She listened patiently. I figured I'd just get it over with.

"I'm…gay."

She wrinkled her nose. "What?"

"I said I'm gay…" I said.

"Um…You're kidding, right?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"No, Gin. I'm not kidding."

"Ew. What the fuck?" she backed away from me.

"You stay away from me. It better not be contagious!"

She turned around and ran back into the great hall.

I slumped against the wall in shock. That was definitely not what I was expecting.

Oh, Merlin. Now she might out me too. The last thing I need is for her to tell the whole school. And my parents too…and my brothers.

This was bad. How could she be like that? My family hadn't been raised to hate gays at all! I had no idea where she was coming from.

I sat on the floor in the entrance hall for a few minutes, staring at my feet. I heard someone clearing their throat above me and looked up. It was Blaise.

"What's wrong?" He sounded worried. "I saw both of you leave, and just your sister come back. She didn't look too happy."

My eyes burned as tears threatened to come pouring down.

He sat down on the floor next to me. "Did you tell her?"

I nodded, a single tear escaping my eye. "She ran off. She said '_It better not be contagious._'"

He brushed my tear away, much as I had done for him the day before. "Feel like going for a walk?" he asked quietly.

I nodded and followed him out the entrance hall doors.


	8. Fragments

(A/N – This chapter shows parts of what's happening before the ball. It uses several POVs. I tell you whose POV it is before each section.)

Chapter7 – Fragments – Everyone's POV

Ginny's POV-

I was lying on the couch in Draco and Blaise's common room, waiting for Draco to get out of the shower.

It was Saturday afternoon, the day of the ball.

He had been in the bathroom for forty-five bloody minutes.

Finally the door opened, and Draco emerged wearing only his black silk boxers, and with absolutely no hair gel. I almost drooled.

I was just about to get up and pounce on him when the entrance to the common room opened and Blaise climbed in.

He sneered at me. "What are you doing here?" he asked nastily.

"What do you think I'm doing?" I sneered back.

I had told Draco about what Ron had told me, and Draco filled me in on Ron and Blaise's…er…relationship.

"You need to apologize to him," Blaise said, pulling off his robes and laying them over the back of an arm chair, leaving him in black pants and a grey shirt. "You don't know how hard it was for him to tell you, and then you act like a bitch and yell shit at him. How would you feel?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm not _gay_," I replied.

"Yeah, no kidding." He walked into his bedroom and slammed the door.

"Gin…what do you have against gays?" Draco asked softly.

"It's just not natural…"

Harry's POV-

I pulled my new, red dress robes over my black pants and shirt, grabbed the never-wilting rose from my bedside table, and went down to the common room to wait for Hermione.

About ten minutes later, Hermione descended the stairs from the girls' dormitories. She looked beautiful.

Her robes were a dark blue, and underneath she wore a short, tight, black dress. On her feet she wore high-heeled black sandals that laced up her ankles.

I stood and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her deeply. I handed her the rose.

She smiled and kissed me again. "I'm going to go put it in my room, ok? I'll be back in a minute." She disappeared back up the stairs.

Ron's POV-

I arrived at Blaise's room about an hour before the ball. We had decided to walk around and talk some more before we went. I knocked on the door and Draco opened it.

Ginny was sitting on the couch in the common room. I didn't make eye contact with her.

"He's in his room, you can go in there if you want," said Draco.

"Thanks," I said. I crossed the room and knocked on Blaise's bedroom door. He opened it and cracked a smile.

"Hey." He pulled me into his room.

"Figured you probably don't want to hang around out there," he said.

"Yeah, thanks."

He dug around in his closet for a minute and pulled out olive green dress robes. He put them on over his black pants and dark grey, silk dress shirt. He looked really hot.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked.

He stepped up to me and kissed me lightly. I kissed him back a little harder, resting one hand on his hip and one behind his neck.

I felt his arms slide around my waist. His body felt so good pressed against mine. I broke away breathing heavily.

He pulled back and took my hand, leading me out of his room. We walked right past Ginny and Draco, and I didn't even notice they were there.

Draco's POV-

When Blaise's door opened, Ginny turned away and came over to me, sitting next to me with her legs across my lap. I ran my hand up her smooth, shaved leg. Her eyes fluttered closed as she enjoyed the feeling of my hand on her skin.

I heard the door click shut.

"So, I was thinking…" I started.

"Oh, yeah? Did it hurt?" she replied.

"Oh, ha ha," I said, pinching her leg.

"So…you were thinking," she said, laughing.

"Yeah, I was thinking since were not actually going to the ball, maybe we could just stay up here instead. You know, since it might be a little cold outside."

She wiggled her eyebrows. "Oh, were you now? That sounds interesting. And what would we do up here, all alone for hours?" she asked suggestively.

"I don't know…that's a hard one. I think we can come up with something, don't you?" I replied.

She ended the playing around by grabbing my head and pulling it down to hers in a searing kiss.

Blaise's POV-

We wondered the halls, hand in hand, not really caring where we were going.

"She'll get over it eventually," I said.

"Who, Gin? I don't know…she holds things against you sometimes. I hope so…"

He sounded as if the topic of his sister made him really sad. "Well at least she hasn't outed you," I said.

"Yeah…she still might, though," he replied.

"She doesn't really have much time if we're going to the ball tonight…" I said.

He laughed. "Good point."

I looked at my watch. "We have about twenty minutes," I said. "Do you want to start heading down there?"

"Sure. Um…are you going to come and sit with me?" He asked.

"Of course." I replied. Then I laughed. "About three years ago, sitting with the Gryffindors would have been my worst nightmare."

He laughed. "Yeah, the entire world has been turned upside down in the last few years. I mean…a Weasley and a Malfoy? That's just not right."

I laughed. "Yeah, if someone told me Draco would go out with a Weasley in first year I would have laughed my ass off at them."

He didn't look quite so sad any more.

We were just about to walk into the great hall when we heard Ginny's voice from behind us.

"Ron!" she called.

We stopped and turned around. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I'm…sorry. I over reacted about this. You accepted my relationship and I should do the same. I can accept it, and I'm sorry."

He hugged her. "Thanks, Gin." They were both smiling. "I appreciate it."

She turned and went back down the hall.

I took him in my arms and hugged him. He seemed so relieved and happy.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked.

"Yeah. Let's go fling ourselves out of the closet," he replied, and we walked into the great hall, hand in hand.


	9. Halloween Ball

Chapter8 – Halloween Ball – Harry's POV

"Merlin. Harry, look!" Hermione elbowed me in the side and pointed towards the entrance to the great hall.

Ron and Blaise were walking straight towards us, holding hands.

We were sitting at Gryffindor table, waiting for the feast to arrive.

"Everyone's going to know, now!" whispered Hermione.

"Obviously don't care though, do they?" I asked.

"I guess not…"

The couple sat down across from us at the table. Ron's smile was huge.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Just talked to Gin," he responded happily. "She's fine now."

"Oh, good. I was hoping she would come around soon," said Hermione.

Mountains of food then appeared on the table. Everyone started helping themselves to it.

"Um…Ron? Why are you trying to eat turkey with a spoon?" I asked.

He blushed and laughed. "Wasn't paying attention."

Blaise was shaking with laughter. Ron elbowed him in the side. "Shut up," he said, sounding put out.

Blaise smiled and kissed Ron's cheek. I stared down at my food. '_That was just too weird_,' I thought.

After dessert, and when all of the third years and under had left, Dumbledore banished the house tables and replaced them with a few dozen smaller tables around the outside of the great hall, leaving room for dancing.

I took Mione's hand and led her onto the dance floor. She slid into my arms and rested her head on my chest, her arms around my waist.

I was facing towards the table Ron and Blaise had sat down at after the feast when they got up together.

"Mione, look," I pointed towards them. She turned with her back to me and I rested my hands on her hips. Blaise pulled Ron into his arms and Ron draped his arms over Blaise's shoulders.

People were starting to stare and whisper. They were doing their best to ignore it, but I cold tell it was making them uncomfortable.

I glared around at some of the people staring at them. The news that I had killed Voldemort using Avada Kedavra had spread, but nobody knew I actually needed Sirius, Ginny, and Draco to do it. So anyone who didn't really know me was pretty scared of me when I got angry. Most of the people stopped staring.

Ron mouthed "Thanks," in my direction. I nodded.

"Good for them," said Hermione quietly, turning back towards me and continuing to dance. "I can't imagine doing that in front of everyone."

"I know. That took a lot of guts," I replied.

She kissed me lightly. "You want to go for a walk outside?" she asked.

"Um…can we stay here a little while longer? I love dancing with you," I whispered into her ear.

She smiled. "Yeah, ok."

She pushed up onto her toes and kissed me. My arms tightened around her waist and I tilted my head down towards her.

She ran her hand up and down my stomach.

"Mmm…" I moaned into her lips.

I pulled out of the kiss and pressed my forehead into hers. "Let's go outside."

I took her hand and we walked outside.

"You look amazing," I said as we started heading down towards the lake.

She blushed slightly. "You look really hot. I'm having my troubles not jumping you right now," she replied.

I cocked an eyebrow at her and grabbed her hand, pulling into my arms and smashing my lips into hers. My hands ran up and down her sides, over her stomach, around her back, in her hair. She grabbed my by my shirt and yanked roughly, pulling me closer.

I moaned as her entire body pressed against mine.

"You wanna…go inside?" I asked between deep breaths and kisses.

She nodded and we started heading back towards the castle, stopping every few seconds to kiss some more.

"We're never going to get there," she gasped, laughing.

"Ok, how about we walk five feet apart?" I suggested.

She laughed. "Or we could just stop right here," she said.

"I don't think so," I laughed. I don't think that would go over too well if someone came out here. And you don't want to be interrupted, do you?"

"Ok, ok. Five feet apart, then. Well…I'll try. If you didn't look so damn sexy this might be a little easier," she scolded.

"I could say the same," I replied.

We started walking again, faster. I kept veering towards her, and then, realizing what I was doing, backing up again. By the time we reached the hall outside my dormitory I could wait no longer. I slammed her into the wall and kissed her hard.

She hooked her leg around the back of my ankle, pulling me even closer, if it were possible. She started unfastening the buttons of my shirt and pushing my robes off my shoulders.

"Whoa…let's go inside, ok?" I said quickly.

She nodded and pushed me towards the door. I flung it open, climbed through the curtains of my four-poster, and put silencing and sealing charms on them. She climbed on top of me and pushed my robes off, throwing them to the side, and went back to unbuttoning my shirt.

I pushed off her robes and found that her dress was strapless underneath. I started licking and sucking on her shoulders and neck. She threw her head back in pleasure.

"Harry…" she whispered, sliding her hand around my neck.

"What is it, beautiful?" I asked, between leaving little bit marks on her neck.

"I need you. Now."


	10. Closer To You

Chapter9 – Closer to you – Blaise's POV

I kissed Ron lightly. His lips were so soft against mine.

He kissed me back and pulled me closer as we continued to dance. I rested my head on his shoulder. He was taller than me, and his shoulder was at the perfect height.

"People are still staring at us…" I whispered into his ear.

"I don't care," he replied confidently. I smiled.

His hand came up under my chin and he tilted my head up, pressing his lips into mine. My hands snaked up and wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer. I felt his tongue slide along my lower lip, begging entrance, which I, of course, granted.

He grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer, pressing his body into mine. I began playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. The gorgeous, red hair; the part of him that made him so sexy, that drove me crazy.

"Fuck," I whispered as he pulled away for air. He was breathing heavily and leaning on me a little.

His fingertips ran over my cheek. "You are amazing," he whispered.

"I could most definitely say the same," I whispered back, pecking him lightly.

I looked around the room. I large number of the girls looked as if they were going to drool.

"Um…this is kind of weird. Do you want to leave?" I asked, indicating the staring crowd.

"Yeah, let's go someplace quiet," he replied, taking my hand and leading me out of the great hall and towards my rooms.

We went into the common room and sat down on the couch.

"So…Does this mean we're, like…boyfriends?" he asked.

I looked up at him. "Are you asking me to be?" I asked, smiling.

He cleared his throat. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

I jumped on him and smothered him in a kiss.

"Mmm…I'll take that as a yes," he whispered.

"Better fucking well take it as a yes," I said into his lips.

His arms came up around my neck and he pulled my down onto his lap and kissed me hard.

I maneuvered myself around so that I could straddle his lap without breaking the kiss. I ran my hands up and down his hard stomach. He sighed into my lips and reached for my robes, pushing them back off my shoulders.

He stopped with the robes half way down my arms. "Um…tell me to stop if you want to, ok?" he asked.

I thought for a minute. "Um…How about we the leave pants on. Is that ok with you?" I said quietly.

"Perfect," he replied, pushing my robes the rest of the way off and reaching for my shirt buttons.

I laughed and leaned into his kiss once again.

He made his way down my shirt until he reached my belt, when he pulled my shirt out of my pants and continued unfastening it. He freed the last button and my shirt fell open.

"Fucking hell, Blaise," he said, staring at my well defined, hard abs and almost drooling.

I shrugged. "It's not as if I had anything better to do than work out over the summer. I guess I just got into the habit and continued it when school started," I said sheepishly.

"Fuck…" he whispered, his fingertips running over the hard muscles. I sighed at his touch.

I tugged at his robes. "Your turn," I said, grinning.

I climbed off him too allow myself easier access to his robes, and pushed them off his arms. I had unfastened the top three buttons of his shirt when he put his hand over mine, stopping me.

"What?" I asked, looking into his eyes.

"I'm…really pale," he said self consciously.

I smiled. "I could tell that without taking your shirt off. I'm still here, am I not?" I asked.

He leaned forward and kissed me, allowing me once more to unbutton his shirt.

I flicked the last button open and stared at the beautiful sight before me. It looked as if he had been working out just as much, if not more than me.

"Merlin," I whispered, unable to stop staring. "You have _nothing_ to worry about…_trust me_."

I pushed him down so he was lying on the couch, and crawled on top of him so that my head was level with his stomach. I began placing tiny, light kisses all over his hard muscles. He began moaning quietly, then louder and louder as I began licking and sucking at him, pulling at his skin with my teeth and leaving a small, red bite mark that would probably last a few days.

He reached down and twisted his fingers through my hair for a few seconds, before whispering, "Come up here."

I stopped sucking him and slid my way up his body, and as our chests and stomachs brushed against each other for the first time, I gasped loudly at the contact.

"Oh God," I whispered as our lips crashed together in the most passionate kiss we had yet shared.

My hand slid up his body and began playing with his hair again. It was so soft and silky and just so incredibly—

Just then Draco's bedroom door opened, and I heard Ginny yell, "Oh, for the love of Merlin!" turn around, and march right back into the bedroom.

Draco cleared his throat and a saw Ron flip him off out of the corner of my eye.

I pulled away from his lips for a moment, only to say, "Fuck off," to Draco.

"Oh, yeah, because you never interrupt me and Ginny," he cried exasperatedly.

I moaned, more out of disappointment than pleasure, as Ron pulled out of the kiss.

"I should go," he whispered.

I slid off of him and offered him my hand to pull him up, feeling disappointed.

"You want to come and hang out in here tomorrow? You can invite Harry and Hermione," I asked.

He smiled. "Yeah, sure. I'd love to."

He pulled his shirt back on and began doing up the buttons, hiding his beautiful body from me once more. He picked up his robes and walked over towards the door. I followed closely behind him.

He stepped out the door, me following close behind him, and turned around. "Do I get a good night kiss?" he asked.

"Of course." I walked straight at him, backing him into the wall beside the door and kissing him hard. I pulled away and brushed his cheek with my fingers, before pecking him on the lips one last time and backing away.

He smiled. "I'll see you at breakfast," he said, before disappearing off down the hall. I walked back into the common room, leaned against the wall, and slid down it until I was sitting on the floor.

"Fuck…" I whispered.

Draco cocked an eyebrow questioningly at me. "Did you even do anything?" he asked.

"No, we didn't, thanks to you." I said. "Fucking amazing, though…" I added as an afterthought.

He smiled. "Ok, I don't need details," he said, laughing.

I extended my hand, asking him to pull me up off the floor. He did.

"Thanks. I'm going to sleep."

I went into my room, changed, and fell asleep as soon as I climbed into bed.


	11. Stuck On You Part 1

Chapter 10 – Stuck On You – Draco 

The next morning after breakfast, Blaise and I were joined in our common room by Ron, Gin, Harry, and Hermione.

Ginny and I were sitting on the floor, our backs resting against the sofa. Blaise was sitting on the sofa we were leaning on, and Ron was sitting on Blaise. Hermione and Harry were sharing the armchair, and Hermione had a large book open on her lap.

"What are you reading, Mione?" asked Ginny.

"It's a book about binding spells," she replied. "This one binds the two subjects within a five foot radius of each other. It's really interesting."

"Uh…I'm sure it is," replied Ginny.

"Huh…that's strange. The name of the spell is blotted out." She started muttering what sounded like a spell under her breath. "Huh…that's worded really weird. It almost sounds like a wandless spell." She kept reading, until her jaw dropped in apparent shock. She read aloud, "_This spell does not require the use of a wand_…Oh, Merlin._ It can only be reversed by the wizard who cast the spell_?" She turned the page frantically. Her eyes widened. She turned another page, and another. "There's no counter spell in this book!" she cried.

"Ginny, move away from Draco. I just want to make sure I didn't accidentally bind you two together."

Ginny stood up and walked easily to the other side of the room and back.

"Oh, good. And Ron? You try," she said hopefully.

Ron rolled his eyes and climbed from Blaise's lap, taking a few steps away. He stopped suddenly.

"Oh, no…" Hermione whispered.

"I can't…walk…" Ron looked as if he was pushing his leg forward with all his might, but it was not moving.

"Oh, Merlin. I'm so sorry, Ron, Blaise," she said sincerely.

Ron turned around and took a good, long look at Blaise. "I don't mind," he said, cocking an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

Blaise smiled. "Take your time finding that counter spell, Hermione," he said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "But you have separate lessons tomorrow!" she said worriedly.

Ron looked over and Hermione and repeated, "I don't mind."

"Guess that means you're stuck sleeping in my bed, huh?" said Blaise, cocking an eyebrow.

Ron smiled suggestively. "I guess it does," he laughed.

"Oh, please," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, like you wouldn't be saying the same if you were in the same situation…" Blaise grumbled.

Hermione cleared her throat loudly. "We are going to have to go to Dumbledore some time. You can't just show up at each others' classes without a reason," she said.

"No…but we could just not go to class…" said Blaise.

Clearly, this was the wrong thing to say to Hermione. "Not go to class? How could you even say something like that? You have NEWTs next year! You can't miss a lesson for such a stupid reason!"

"It's ok, Mione. Relax; Blaise was just joking, right Zabini?" Harry glared at Blaise.

"Um…yeah. Just a Joke, no need to get worked up. Ahem…" He pulled Ron back down onto his lap and started ignoring the rest of us.

"I need to find a counter spell as soon as I can," said Hermione.

"How about you enjoy a few more hours of your weekend, and then we can go to Dumbledore and let him sort it out. You don't need to worry, Mione. It's going to be fine," Harry comforted her, his hand sliding around her neck and pulling her down for a kiss.

"Feel," Ginny whispered, pressing the backs of her fingers against my cheek.

I jerked away at the shock. "Shit, your hands are freezing!"

I put her hands together and rubbed them with mine, trying to warm them.

We could hear whispering coming from behind us on the couch. We both turned around to find Ron and Blaise's noses half an inch apart as they were whispering, well, Merlin knows what to each other.

Blaise whispered something with a wicked grin on his face. Ron's eyes closed as he shuddered with apparent pleasure.

"Oh God…I do _not_ what to know what you just said," I said to Blaise.

He kept looking at Ron for a minute before turning towards me and saying, "You sure? I could repeat it for you."

Ron's jaw dropped. "You will not!" he cried.

Blaise grinned and pressed his forehead into Ron's before kissing him hard on the lips. Ron's arms came up around Blaise's neck and pulled him close, not breaking their kiss. I turned back to Ginny.

"If I said I wanted everyone to leave so we could be alone, does that make me a bad person?" she whispered.

"Ditching your friends for sex?" I asked. "Yup…that's pretty bad."

She smacked my stomach playfully, laughing. "Oh, you're nice," she said.

"Nice was never my aim, babe. I'm evil."

She laughed. "Yeah, no kidding."

Smiling, I leaned down to kiss her lightly, when I felt Ron kick me in the back of the head.

"Oh, fuck off, Weasley," I said angrily. "I fuck your sister regularly, get over it."

"Draco!" cried Ginny, pulling out of my arms.

I scowled.

"Nice job there, mate," Blaise said unhelpfully.

Ginny got up and stormed into my bedroom. I heard the bathroom door close and lock a second later.

I glared at Ron, "Thanks a lot," and followed Ginny into my room.


	12. Stuck On You Part 2

Chapter 11 - Stuck on You Part 2 – Ron's POV

Blaise's nose was almost touching mine as he whispered to me. "You know what's fun?" he whispered, almost inaudibly.

"What?" I whispered back, kissing him lightly.

"Chocolate sauce, handcuffs, and blindfolds," he whispered. I closed my eyes and shuddered in pleasure at the thought.

"Oh God…I don _not_ want to know what you just said," Draco said to Blaise.

He grinned evilly at Draco and said, "You sure? I could repeat it for you."

My jaw dropped. "You will not!" I said.

He smiled and leaned forward, kissing me hard. My arms snaked up around his neck and pulled him closer.

I looked down and noticed Draco moving in to kiss my sister. I kicked him in the back of the head.

"Oh, fuck off, Weasley," he yelled. "I fuck your sister regularly, get over it."

"Draco!" Ginny yelled angrily.

"Nice job there, mate," Blaise said sarcastically to Draco.

Ginny stormed into Draco's bathroom.

"Thanks a lot," Draco glared at me. He followed Ginny through his bedroom and closed the door.

I noticed that Hermione and Harry were making out and had no idea what was going on. Apparently Blaise noticed this is well, and took the opportunity to push me down on my back on the couch and climb on top of me, smothering me with his hot kisses.

I slipped my hand under his loose shirt and ran my fingertips over his hard muscles.

He gasped and rolled off me and onto the floor beside the coffee table.

"Shit! Your hands are freezing!" he cried from the floor. "What's with that…is it cold in here or something?"

I laughed and jumped on him, sliding my cold hands up his shirt and putting my hands flat on his chest. He hissed and squirmed from the cold.

He flipped me over and pressed me to the floor, holding my hands above my head and with one leg between my thighs so I couldn't get out.

He brushed his lips lightly across mine. I pushed my head up to kiss him harder, and he released my hands. I slid them around his neck and pulled him down hard against me, kissing him furiously.

After a few minutes he sighed quietly and slid off to my side, where he rested his head on my arm, his arm still draped across my body.

His eyes were closed contentedly. I brushed my fingers across his cheek and he nuzzled into the touch.

"Tired?" I whispered.

He nodded. "Couldn't sleep last night," he whispered back.

"How come?"

His eyes fluttered open. "Couldn't stop thinking about you," he said, smiling.

I blushed faintly and he leaned up to kiss my cheek.

"Hey…" I said as a thought came to me. "You haven't got anywhere to go for Christmas, have you?"

He shrugged. "I was going to stay here."

"Do you want to come to my house?" I asked excitedly.

"Um…it's the day after Halloween, Ron. A bit early, don't you think?"

"I know…but I'd have to come out to my Mum and let that die down a bit before I ask her anyways," I said.

He looked a little worried. "Do you think she'll take it well?"

"I'm sure she won't care. I hope…" I replied.

He looked at me sympathetically.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he whispered.

"I know. It's just a little uncertainty. I mean…I definitely wasn't expecting Ginny's reaction."

"I know," he said, kissing me on the corner of the mouth. "But that's all sorted out now, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," I smiled at him.

He placed his hand on my face and pressed his lips to mine lightly, brushing his thumb over my cheek. I pressed into his mouth harder and deepened the kiss.

I felt his hand slide under my shirt as his fingers ran over my stomach. I sighed into his kiss and returned the touch.

He moaned under my hand and slid his arms around my neck as I rolled and leaned over his body, one leg between his and one by his side.

He pulled me down so I was lying on him and my leg pressed against him. He moaned loudly at the contact.

"Ron? What are you guys doing?" asked Hermione, who could not see us as the coffee table was in the way.

I broke away from Blaise and rolled off him again. "You suck, Mione," I said, standing up and pulling Blaise up as well. He deliberately fell into me with the supposed force of my pulling him up, and we toppled back to the floor, this time with him on top.

Laughing, I squirmed my way out from under him and got up, but of course, not before kissing him for a few moments first.

"Just about done, then?" asked Hermione.

I rolled my eyes and didn't answer.

Blaise looked down at his watch. "We've got five minutes to get to dinner," he said.

"Oh," said Hermione, "I completely lost track of the time!"

We were just about to head down for dinner when, "What about Draco and Ginny?" asked Hermione

"Leave them," I replied quickly, not wanting to remain on the subject.

"They can go down to the kitchens later," Blaise said.

So we went down to dinner. Blaise sat with me at Gryffindor table. It was a little awkward; most of the school had not yet gotten used to us being together. There were still quite a few stares at dinner.

After dinner the four of us were standing out in the entrance hall.

"Aren't we going to go speak to Dumbledore about your…er…problem?" asked Hermione.

"Problem? What problem?" asked Blaise. "I don't have any problem with this arrangement."

"But what about classes tomorrow?" she asked.

"We'll figure it out," I said.

"Yeah?" she said defiantly. "Go ahead. What are you going to do?"

"Mione, come on," I pleaded, hoping she wouldn't ruin my excuse to stay with Blaise tonight.

"No. We have to go to Dumbledore tonight. Let's go," and she took Harry's hand and marched us towards Dumbledore's office.

Blaise and I shared disappointed looks before following her.

We arrived at the stone gargoyle. "Fizzing Whisby," Harry said clearly, and the gargoyle sprung to life and jumped aside, revealing a moving staircase behind it. We god on the stairs and rode them to the top.

Hermione stepped forward and knocked on the door. It was opened almost immediately by Dumbledore.

"Oh, good evening Miss Granger. Can I help you?" he asked, eyes scanning the group.

"Yes, professor. We've had a bit of a magical accident. I've accidentally bound Ron and Blaise within five feet of each other," said Hermione.

"Oh, my. Well…do come in." He led us into the room and conjured up four chairs for them.

"So," said Dumbledore, sitting in his own chair behind the desk, "how did this happen?"

"Well, I was reading a book on binding spells, and I read one of the spells aloud, not realizing that it was a wandless spell. I got them to move apart, to make sure they could do it, and they couldn't," Hermione explained.

"What was this spell called?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well, that's the thing. The name of the spell was rubbed off. It is a rather old book." Hermione pulled the book out of her bag and flipped it to the page of the spell, and handed it over to Dumbledore.

He studied the spell for a moment before looking at the cover of the book. "I've never seen this spell before. Is this the only copy of _A Study on Binding Spells_ in the library, Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm afraid it is."

"Well…this spell does not wear off. It will remain in place unless it is removed," he said, scanning the description of the spell. "I will have to find out what the spell is called before I have any hope of finding a counter spell. I'll owl Flourish and Blotts and see if they can get me a new copy. But until then, I'm afraid you two are stuck.

"I'll write notes to your teachers explaining the circumstances. You will have to attend either Gryffindor's or Slytherin's lessons. Which would you prefer?" Dumbledore asked.

"Gryffindor," Blaise and I answered in unison.

Dumbledore smiled, his periwinkle eyes twinkling merrily. "Very well," he said, pulling out an eagle quill and ink pot, and writing a quick not for us.

"There you are, just show that to each teacher at the beginning of your lessons." He folded up the note and handed it to Blaise.

"Thank you, Professor," I said as we left his office.

As soon as we reached the bottom of the moving staircase, Blaise jumped into my arms and kissed me hard. "That could not have worked out more perfectly!"

"I know," I replied, smiling. "I thought for sure he was going to reverse it."

He kissed me again.

"Ok…so, we're going to bed now. It's almost curfew," said Harry.

I looked down at my watch. "Alright. We'll see you tomorrow."

Blaise and I walked hand in hand back to his rooms.


	13. Stuck On You Part 3

Chapter 12 – Stuck On You Part 3 – Blaise's POV

"Uhh…" I grunted as Ron slammed me into the wall just inside the common room, his tongue slipping past my lips and tangling with my own.

I grabbed his shirt roughly and pulled him against me. His hands slid to my waist and he began pulling my shirt out of my pants. He slowly unbuttoned it.

I practically ripped his robes off in my rush to make skin contact. In my hurry, I didn't bother unbuttoning his shirt and simply pushed it up as high as it would go and began running my fingers over his stomach.

"Merlin," he whispered into my lips. He pushed my shirt off and I pulled him right up against me, our skin finally touching. Then I started unbuttoning his shirt. I finally got it off and it slid to the floor. My hands slid around his back and slid over his smooth, pale skin, feeling the defined muscles.

He started kissing his way down my neck and stopped where neck became shoulder, sucking and biting the sensitive skin. I threw my head back and sighed.

I reached for his belt buckle and slowly, agonizingly, giving him time to object if he needed to, unfastened it. He kept sucking on my neck, so I kept undoing his belt.

He pulled away for a second. "Your room?" he breathed. I nodded and we stumbled towards my bedroom door. Once inside, I pushed him against the door, slamming it shut with his body and returning his kisses, went for his neck. He moaned quietly and returned my actions by unfastening my belt.

He ripped open my pants and let them slide down over my hips to pool at my ankles.

I felt, rather than saw him staring down at me, at my black boxers, before his arms slid around my neck, almost strangling me, in a deep kiss. My hands clutched at his sides, trying to pull him closer, although it was impossible. Any closer and the air would have been squeezed from my lungs. Not that I would have cared…

I undid his pants and pushed them down his legs.

Leaving both pairs of pants in piles on the floor, we stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it, our lips never breaking contact.

o

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I groaned loudly. '_Stupid alarm clock_,' I thought. I swung my arm over to my bedside table, feeling around for my wand. I found it and tapped the clock with it, silencing it.

Then I noticed the warm weight on top of me. Ron.

He was stirring slightly, obviously woken by the alarm clock.

"What time is it?" he croaked, sliding off me and nestling into my side, hiding his eyes from the light streaming in through the window.

"It's five," I whispered, draping my arm over his warm, half-naked body, fingers running just under the elastic waist band of his red boxers.

His eyes snapped open. "Five? Why the bloody hell do you have your alarm clock set for five? Breakfast doesn't start till seven thirty!"

He nestled back into my side, apparently intending to go back to sleep. "I take an hour long bath every morning," I said, fingers reaching out to play with his hair. His eyes popped open again.

Smiling widely, he said, "Mind if I join you?"

"Do I have a choice?" I asked. "We're kind of stuck together, in case you didn't notice?"

He laughed, sitting up slightly to kiss me. I ran my thumb over his jaw line before getting up and pulling him up with me.

"I have to run the water," I said.

He grabbed my hand and pulled my back, preventing me from entering the bathroom. He pulled my right up against his body, slid his hands around my neck, and kissing me passionately. My hands rested on his hips and pulled them against mine. He moaned loudly.

"Think we can make it to the bathroom first?" I breathed.

"I doubt it, but I can try," he said into my neck. He bit down on my skin and I groaned loudly.

"I don't call that trying," I whispered. The tips of his fingers dipped just below the waist band of my boxers.

"Uhhhh…" I almost came right there.

"Oh no, trust me. I'm trying really hard…" he grunted.

"Really hard is right," I said, giving up on the bath idea. I pushed him against the wall and ground my hips into his. He almost screamed.

o

As it turned out, we only just had enough time left over for a quick shower.

Well…it didn't really end up being a quick shower.

We stumbled down to breakfast half an hour early. Fortunately we still had an hour till classes started.

I sat with him at Gryffindor table, across form Harry and Hermione.

"What took you so long?" Hermione said from behind a huge, leather bound book.

"Oh Merlin, Mione," groaned Harry. He redirected his attention towards Ron. "Please don't answer that."

Ron and I both laughed and piled up our plates.

I cut a piece of bacon and slid it into my mouth, feeling Ron's gaze on me as he shoveled and entire piece of toast into his mouth and swallowed without chewing.

I raised an eyebrow at him and cut another piece.

"Oh, come on," Ron cried out. "I know from experience that your mouth isn't that small!"

Harry dropped his fork and buried his face in his hands. "Please, can the rest of us eat here?"

Ron rolled his eyes and went on shoveling food into his mouth. When he was done eating he drank an entire goblet of water in one gulp.

I shook my head, laughing quietly.

We finished eating quickly, with 40 minutes to spare before class started.

I slid my arm around his waist and rested my hand on his hip. He turned and kissed me lightly.

A few seconds later, Seamus Finnegan dropped onto the bench next to Ron.

"Mornin' lads," he said cheerfully in his heavy Irish accent.

"Hey, Seamus," Ron said.

"Am I always the last to find out about these things? Honestly…I was wondering why you weren't in the dorm last night," Seamus said.

"Um…we came out at the ball. Weren't you there?" Ron asked.

"Nah…I was getting' laid," he said, smiling widely.

Ron wiggled his eyebrows. "By who?"

"Can't say. He doesn't want people to know."

"Awe, come on. Who are we going to tell?" Ron coaxed.

"Oh no. I'm not doing nothing to jeopardize this amazing shag."

Ron laughed. "Alright. Well, when you drag him out of the closet, let us know."

Seamus winked. "Will do. But I've gotta go get my things for class. I shall see you in potions." And with that he left the great hall.


	14. Hiding

(A/N – So this chapter is Seamus' POV, and it does talk about his boyfriend, but the reader doesn't know who it is. There are hints but… You have to try and figure it out. So send your guesses in your reviews!)

Chapter 13 – Hiding – Seamus' POV

"Oh. My. God. I can **not** believe you missed that!" is exclaimed, after getting my books from my room, scanning the Gryffindor common room and making sure that I was alone with my boyfriend.

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "What did I miss?"

"Ron and Zabini. They are so cute together!"

"Cute… doing what together?" he asked questioningly.

I shrugged. "Smoochy stuff."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Smoochy stuff? You are such a fag…"

"Hehe. I know," I replied.

He shook his head, laughing.

"We should go to class," I said, a tiny trace of sadness in my voice. "Stupid potions."

"Yeah…" he groaned. "I have to go get my stuff," he said, standing up. "I'll see you in a bit."

o

I slipped into my seat in potions next to Dean, just as the bell signaled the beginning of class, and Snape walked through the door from his office in a whirl of robes.

Ron and Blaise were sitting right in front of us. As soon as Snape entered, they both stood and went to the front of the room. Ron handed Snape a note.

He scanned it quickly, eyebrows raising in slight surprise.

"Ah…" he said, scanning the room and setting his eyes on Hermione. "It seems Miss Granger has made the first mistake of her life," he said smirking.

I turned towards Hermione, who was blushing slightly.

"It seems," said Snape, the smirk never leaving his face, "That Granger has performed a binding spell on Zabini and Weasley here, preventing them from moving outside of a five foot radius of each other."

My jaw dropped. "That is so not fair! Stuck within five feet of your boyfriend?" I cried, a bit too loudly.

Dean pinched my side. "Shhh! Snape's gonna freak!" he whispered.

Snape eyed me evilly before turning back to Hermione. "How could you do this by accident, Miss Granger?"

Hermione stuttered for the first time at a question asked by a teacher.

"Never mind. Moving on with the lesson."

Ron and Zabini returned to their seats as Snape began the lesson. Suddenly, he stopped short.

"Hmm…no partner again, Longbottom?" He scanned the room. "Miss Parkinson, kindly be Longbottom's partner for today. And Longbottom, try not to poison her."

Pansy carried her stuff to the seat behind ours, scowling.

After Snape finished his lecture, he put the ingredients and instructions on the board with a wave of his wand and disappeared into his office.

"You lucky bastards," I said quietly, so the Snape would not hear me through the open door. "Hey, Hermione! Could you do the same to me? Please?"

Hermione laughed quietly. "It might be easier if you would tell us who it is!" she whispered.

At that exact moment, Neville went into a strange coughing fit behind me. I turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "You ok?" I asked.

His bright red face bobbed as he nodded.

"Longbottom," Snape drawled as he walked back into the room. "Try not to die until after your potion is complete, if it's not too much hassle."

Neville blushed even darker and went back to shredding his tarantula legs.

"Draco!" Snape snapped sharply and suddenly. Malfoy pulled back from emptying the entire contents of his case of powdered beetle shell into his cauldron just in time.

Malfoy shook his head sharply, as if shaking himself out of a daze. "Thanks, Sev," He said to the professor.

"Um…" Dean said quietly.

"Did I hear that right?" I asked.

Zabini looked up from his finely chopped rat's spleen. "They're cousins…didn't you know?"

"Nope," said Dean.

"No wonder Snape favors him," said Ron.

We all went back to our potion assignments.

I looked up from checking the fire under my cauldron to find Zabini kissing Ron's ear lightly.

"Couple of fags, those two," I heard Parkinson say from behind me.

I was just about to turn around and give her a piece of my mind when Neville jumped in before me.

"Don't say things like that! That's terribly rude…How would you like it if someone said something like that about you?" In his furry, he knocked an empty box into his cauldron, resulting in a loud bang.

After the cloud of smoke subsided, I was given a clear view of Neville. His eyebrows were completely singed off. Parkinson was lying on her back on the floor.

"Neville! Are you ok?" I hurried over to the sink to get a napkin and a cup of water, handing it to him to clear the dust and leftover potion from his face.

Fortunately the potion did not react with his skin, as it had to be taken through the ears to be affective.

Parkinson climbed off the floor and, grumbling loudly, took her books back over to where Bulstrode was sitting.

Dean bottled our potion, as did the rest of the class, as I helped Neville clean up.

The bell signaled the end of class and the beginning of break.

"Longbottom, stay behind and clear up this mess. The rest of you are dismissed," Snape drawled lazily.

The class rose and exited the room, my friends and I reluctant to leave Neville behind, alone with Snape.

We made our way out into the cold air for break. It was dark and the clouds looked stormy.

"Merlin…It's freezing," said Ron. He walked right up to Zabini and slid into his arms, burying his face in his neck.

I raised my eyebrows at Dean. He looked away.

A couple minutes later, tiny little snowflakes began to fall.

"Oh my god, you guys!" exclaimed Neville. "It's December already! I just realized that."

"Yeah. Christmas shopping in Hogsmeade next weekend," added Harry.

At this time the bell for end of break rang.

"What class do you guys have next?" Zabini asked.

"Divination," Ron sighed in reply.

o

Friday night of that week I was sitting in the corner of the common room with my boyfriend.

"I don't know," he whispered. "I want to come out but… well…"

"You can do it," I said encouragingly. "Just think about it. We won't have to hide anymore. We won't have to sneak off and we won't have to try to act normal in public. It would make everything easier."

He leaned back in his armchair with his eyes closed and took a deep breath. "Ok."

"…Ok? Yes?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes."

"Yes! Oh my God I love you!" I said happily, as quietly as I could. I had difficulty not pouncing on him. "When?"

"Um… Now?"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "Ok. Let's go."

I stood and walked towards the circle of chairs and sofas, where Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Zabini were sitting. I flopped onto a sofa next to Ginny, my boyfriend following me hesitantly.

"Guess what, guys," I got the attention of the group. "We have something to tell you."


	15. Coming Out

(A/N – Sorry about the wait. I had slight writers block so I've been working on other stories.

Enjoy!)

Chapter 14 – Coming Out – Dean's POV

Neville climbed through the portrait hole and flopped onto the couch next to me.

"Hey guys. What's up?" he asked cheerfully.

"Dean and Seamus were just about to tell us something," said Harry.

I could feel my face burning slightly.

"Go on, Dean," Seamus whispered in my ear so no one could hear.

Everyone was looking strangely at us.

"You do it," I whispered back. He rolled his eyes at me. "Please?"

"Fine," he whispered back. He turned to the group, smiling. My heart was pounding.

"Did anyone happen to know that Dean is gay?" he asked conversationally.

"I did," Hermione piped up.

"What?" I asked quickly. "Who did you know?"

"Mione knows everything, hun," Seamus said, laughing.

"Oh no…" said Harry.

'Shit,' I thought. 'I knew there would be a bad reaction.'

"Neville!" Harry said tragically. "We're the only ones in our dorm that haven't crossed over to the dark side!" He sighed dramatically and collapsed backwards into the couch, resting the back of his hand on his forehead in a mock faint.

I breathed a sigh of relief; he was just being sarcastic.

"Awesome," said Zabini. "One down, only Harry, Neville, and Draco left to convert!"

Harry and Neville laughed. "No thank you," said Harry.

My heart was still pounding with left over anxiety. I could not have hoped for a better reaction. Though, now that I think about it, I should have expected it. I mean… the whole group already knew about Seamus, Ron, and Zabini. They couldn't really have reacted too badly.

Seamus leaned up close to me and whispered in my ear, "Can I kiss you in public now?"

I blushed furiously but nodded.

"Good." He leaned over me and kissed my lightly at first, then a little harder.

He pulled back slowly; I could tell he didn't want to push it right away and freak me out. He was probably right. I had been out for about 10 seconds and I wasn't ready for too much PDA quite yet.

"I say we go celebrate," said Zabini.

"Want to go to the room of requirement?" asked Harry. "That should work well for a little party."

"That's perfect," said Seamus.

"I'll go get Draco and meet you guys down there," said Ginny.

We set off for the Room of Requirement.

We found the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls how to do ballet. Walking back and fourth past the opposite blank wall, we thought hard about what we needed for a party.

A large black door appeared in the middle of the wall. We all slipped through it to find a huge room, containing everything we could possibly need for a party. There was a huge cooler full of ice and bottle of butterbeer. There was a giant stereo with stacks and stacks of CDs, wizard and muggle. (A/N – The stereo runs on magic, not electricity.) There were a few tables with chairs in once corner, and in another corner there were several sofas and some comfortable looking armchairs. There were 3 doors leading off of the original room.

Ron walked over and opened one of the doors. "It's a bedroom…" he said. "Well…it wasn't me."

"What?" asked Zabini.

"This room supplies whatever the user 'requires'," said Hermione. "Someone must have thought about needing a bed as we walked back and forth past the wall outside. What they were thinking of using the beds for, I don't want to know."

Zabini laughed. "I get it."

We all sat down in the couches in the corner while Harry and Hermione grabbed a bunch of butterbeers.

"So have you come out to your mum and dad yet, Ron?" asked Seamus.

"Yeah, I wrote them a letter just after Halloween. They wrote back almost instantly. They were all, 'Oh, we're so cool, our son is gay!' It was a little bit scary. But I'm taking Blaise home for Christmas so I had to tell them."

"That's cool. So does your whole family know then?" Seamus asked.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "I'm really lucky. I've had no problems so far…except for Ginny, but that's over now."

"Yeah, you are lucky. My parents are in denial. Me dad told me it was just a phase, and me mum just said 'Oh, that's nice,' and went on watering the garden," Seamus sighed.

A few people were staring at me, as if waiting for my story. "Haven't told anyone," I said. "My mum once told me that she wouldn't mind if one of her kids was gay, but that she wouldn't wish it on us because it's a 'hard lifestyle,' but then she goes and makes stupid comments like 'You still like girls, right?' and stuff like that. So I don't know what to think."

Seamus slid his hand behind my back to rest on my hip. I tried really hard not to blush, bit I still went faintly pink. This would take some getting used to.

I rested my head on his shoulder and my hand on his thigh.

Ron clucked his tongue sympathetically. "I'm sure it would be alright once you did it."

"Yeah, I know. It's just that tiny uncertainty. The 'what if'," I replied sadly.

Ron nodded. "Take your time. You'll know when you're ready."

Blaise poked him in the side and whispered something inaudible into his ear. Ron paled. "You have **got** to stop doing that to me in public!" he said, rolling his eyes.

Blaise laughed and whispered in Ron's ear again. This time Ron groaned and pulled his boyfriends face to his own, kissing him passionately and not letting Blaise pull away.

Seamus kissed me lightly on the cheek and then got up to get us butterbeers.

He came and sat back down next to me, handing me a bottle.

"To Dean," he said, raising his bottle. "For not being a freaking closet case anymore!"

I laughed loudly and Seamus kissed me after taking a drink of his butterbeer. "Congrats, babe."

(A/N – Thanks for reading. Please review…this is pathetic. I'm beginning to think no one is reading. It's not that hard, just press the little button and type something. Thank you!)


	16. Home For The Holidays

(A/N – Thanks to pinkpirate for my first real review since starting this sequel. Thank you so much! More reviews would, however, be greatly appreciated.

So here it is! This chapter was particularly fun to write. It gets very exciting. Enjoy!

PS- I'm so sorry if anyone was confused by the previous chapter. I forgot to tell you who's POV it was. Hopefully you figured it out, but I'm sorry! I have now fixed it.)

Chapter 15 – Home For The Holidays – Ron's POV

The next day, Saturday, was the first say of Christmas vacation. Blaise and I were sitting in the Gryffindor common room after breakfast, as there had been a delay and the train wouldn't leave until 3 that afternoon.

"There you are, Ron," said Hermione after entering the room through the portrait hole. "Dumbledore wants the three of us in his office now. I think he might have found the counter spell."

"Damn," Blaise whispered quietly in my ear.

"Ok. Thanks, Mione," I said, getting up and pulling Blaise off the couch.

We arrived in Dumbledore's office about ten minutes later, not particularly excited about being separated but both feeling that it was time, and knowing that they would be spending the next two weeks together anyways, if not within five feet of each other.

Hermione entered silently behind them and closed the door quietly.

"Morning, Professor," she said as Dumbledore entered the room through the back door.

"Good morning Miss Granger," he replied, "Mr. Weasley, Mr. Zabini," he nodded to them each in turn. "I expect you are all looking forward to your break?"

The three of us nodded.

"Alright, I have the counter spell here," he said, pulling a large, leather-bound book from his desk and handing it to Hermione. "You are the one who must reverse the spell, Miss Granger, as you cast it in the first place. Page six hundred seventy-two."

Hermione flipped through the book until she found the right page. She read over the spell, and looked a bit nervous.

"I have absolute confidence in your magical ability, Miss Granger. Have faith in yourself."

Hermione sat up straight in her chair, turned to face Blaise and I, who were sharing a chair, and read the incantation aloud, concentrating hard.

"Did it work?" she asked uncertainly.

Blaise stood and walked across the room and back. "Yup, I guess it did," he said.

"Excellent," said Dumbledore. "You all may. Enjoy your holidays."

We all thanked him and file out of his office.

"It's nearly two," said Hermione, checking her watch. The carriages will be leaving for Hogsmeade station soon. I have to go find Harry. I'll see you two on the train."

"Kay, bye Mione," I said, taking Blaise's hand and walking slowly down towards the entrance hall and out to the carriages, our fingers intertwined.

We hovered around near the Hogwarts gates for a while, waiting for Harry and Mione. When they arrived, we got in a carriage together.

"You guys should all come to Godric's Hollow for New Year's," said Harry.

"Do your parents mind, Harry?" I asked.

Harry laughed. "Are you kidding? Hey won't even notice. About a million people are coming. The whole order, all their friends from Hogwarts… Everyone. They actually invited my Aunt and Uncle, but thank Merlin they declined."

"Alright, we'll come if we can," I replied, snuggling up in Blaise's arms and closing my eyes.

He was trying to hide it, but it was evident that Harry was excited to be going home. I didn't blame him, he hadn't seen his parents for 15 years, then he finally gets to live with them and he has to leave right away. I'm sure I'd be far more excited than he looked right then.

We came to a halt outside of Hogsmeade Station and climbed out of our carriage. We got onto the train and went to the very back compartment.

Why are we at the very back?" asked Blaise.

"It's a tradition," I replied. "Besides…It's the biggest compartment, as there's no isle running down the side."

I pulled him down onto my lap as I sat down.

"Where are Gin and Draco?" asked Harry.

"They're staying at Hogwarts together," I said darkly.

"Oh. Well I'll have to owl them about New Year's when I get home," Harry replied.

"But how will they get there? The train isn't going to bring just them," I asked.

"Draco can apparate," said Blaise.

"Legally?" I asked.

"Of course not," said Blaise. "He's only sixteen, you git."

"Oh…" I blushed. "Well…Ginny can't apparate," I said.

"Draco can carry her. He was trained to do that."

My eyes widened but I didn't say anything. I hated talking about Death Eater stuff with him. It upset him so much.

"Harry!" Neville came barreling into the compartment, a long letter clutched in his fist. "Read this!" he thrust the letter into Harry's hands and a few tears escaped his eyes as he practically jumped up and down with excitement.

Harry scanned the letter, his jaw dropping. "Neville…" he said, looking up at his friend and roommate of nearly six years. "This is great!" Harry jumped up and threw his arms around Harry in a brotherly hug.

Neville was laughing through tears which were now streaming down his face in floods.

"Someone feel like letting the rest of us know what's going on?" I asked exasperatedly.

Harry still looked shocked. "They've found a way to cure his parents," Harry said, as Neville was clearly too distraught to answer himself.

The train's whistle sounded and the train started moving slowly down the track.

"Neville! That's wonderful news!" said Hermione, jumping up and hugging him too. I quickly did the same.

"Sit down, come on," I said, leading him over to a seat.

He sat down and curled up. By this point he was bawling his eyes out. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bubble gum wrappers which he clearly carried with him wherever he went. At the sight of them his cries actually amplified tenfold.

Hermione conjured a handkerchief and handed it to Neville, and he greatfully accepted it.

None of us knowing what to do, we returned to our seats and left him to sob into the handkerchief.

Neville seemed to be calming down after about half an hour when the food trolley arrived at their compartment.

Harry told everyone to stay in their seats and went out to purchase some sweets from the trolley. He returned several minutes later with a giant paper bag in his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh… I couldn't carry it all," he said sheepishly.

I laughed. "Hungry?"

Harry rolled his eyes, before turning the bag upside down over an empty seat and emptying out its entire contents. "Help yourselves," he said, tossing a chocolate frog to Hermione and taking one for himself before returning to his seat.

The group sat eating sweets and talking companionably for the rest of the journey, Neville sniffling every few minutes but now smiling widely.

(A/N – Hope you enjoyed it! Now please review…I'm desperate. Thank you!)


	17. Can I Have Your Autograph?

(A/N – And here it is, chapter 16. I had a lot of fun writing this one too. It's kind of cute. So enjoy!)

Chapter 16 – Can I Have Your Autograph? – Harry'sPOV

When the train arrived at Kings Cross at ten thirty that night, my heart was pounding. I was excited to be returning home.

I quickly changed into muggle clothes, grabbed Headwig and my bag (I didn't need a trunk as I was only leaving school for two weeks) and followed Hermione off the train.

Once off the train, Hermione turned to Harry. She seemed to have tears in her eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked quickly.

She wiped her eyes and replied, "Of course. I'm just… Er …excited to be going home. I've got to go; my parents can't get onto the platform. I'll see you New Year's, ok?"

I nodded and she pushed up onto her toes to kiss me lightly. I put my hand lightly on her face and held her lips against mine. "I'll miss you," I whispered into her ear.

"I love you," she whispered back.

"Love you, too," I replied, and she kissed me once more and disappeared through the barrier.

There was something strange going on with her. I'd talk to her about it at New Year's.

I scanned the crowd for my parents and found them sitting on a bench against the wall, near the barrier. I dodged my way through the crowded platform to where they were seated.

"Harry!" My mum jumped up from the bench and nearly squeezed the air out of me with her hug. Dad stood and hugged me too.

"Have a good term, Harry?" he asked.

I nodded. "Glad to be coming home, though."

Mum beamed. "We're definitely glad to have you home," she said. "We've got some news, but it will wait till we get home," she said, sounding excited.

"Excuse me?" I felt a small tug at my shirt. I looked down to see a small girl of about eight with long, black curls, holding a piece of parchment and a quill. "Are you Harry Potter?"

I knelt down on one knee so I was at her level and said, "Yes, I am. Call me Harry. Can I help you?"

The little girl smiled. "Can you sign this, please?" She held out her quill and parchment.

"Oh… I don't really do autographs…" I said. The little girl's face fell. "Oh, I supposed I could, just this once." I took her parchment and quill. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Brenna Zabini," the little girl replied proudly.

"Is it really? Do you happen to know someone called Blaise?" I asked, resting her parchment against my knee and writing a little note before signing it.

"Yes!" Brenna said excitedly. "He's my favorite cousin." But then her expression became serious. "His daddy is mad at my family. He won't talk to my father; his brother." The girl looked as if this worried her a fair bit. "That's why I'm here… My mum and dad wanted to make sure Blaise is ok. He hasn't written to us, and we heard that Uncle Ashton was mad at him, too."

"You know what?" I asked, handing her the signed parchment and quill. "I'm very glad I met you today. Your cousin is just fine. He should be on the platform somewhere."

"Brenna?" I heard Blaise say from behind me.

"Blaise!" the little girl shrieked, throwing herself into the older boy's arms.

"What are you doing here?" Blaise asked, putting his cousin back down on the ground.

"Mum and Dad are so worried about you. You didn't owl us once!"

"Oh… The heard about my summer, did they?" Brenna nodded. "Well, I'm just fine, see?" he said, smiling.

"Ok… Look what I have!" she said, thrusting the signed parchment into his hands. Blaise scanned it and looked up at me, raising an eyebrow.

I flushed. "She looked so sad when I said no…"

Blaise laughed. "Where are your parents?" he asked Brenna, handing the signed parchment back to her.

"Looking for you," she replied.

Blaise stood up on his toes but could not see over the crowd. "I can't see."

"Ooh, let me!" Brenna cried. Blaise laughed and lifted the small girl easily onto his shoulders. "I see them," she said. "Mum! Over here," she called, waving her arms.

A tall, dark haired man and a mid-height brunette woman weaved their way through the crowd towards us.

"Blaise, you're alright!" said the brunette woman, taking Blaise in a hug.

"You didn't owl," said the tall men, hugging Blaise in turn.

"I'm sorry," Blaise said sheepishly. "I didn't think you would have heard."

"We're just glad you're ok," said the man, patting Blaise on the back.

"Look what I got, Daddy," Brenna piped up. She handed the parchment to her father.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

Brenna pointed to me. "Harry gave it to me."

The man looked up at me. I extended my hand. "Harry Potter," I said.

He shook my hand. "It's an honor."

"Oh, please…" I said.

The man laughed. "Yes, I suppose you get that all the time. I'm Cavan Zabini."

At this point Rom found us on the platform. "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said to Blaise.

Blaise smiled at the sight of his boyfriend. "This is my Uncle Cavan, my Aunt Joli, and my cousin Brenna," he introduced them to Ron.

There was a nervous look between Ron and Blaise before Blaise said, "This is Ron Weasley, my…boyfriend."

"Oh…" said Cavan.

"Good for you," said Joli, patting Blaise's shoulder. Cavan shook Ron's hand and Ron smiled nervously.

"Well, I promise to owl you more often," Blaise said. "And thanks for coming all the way down here to check on me, I really appreciate it."

They said their goodbyes, and Blaise gave Brenna one last hug. "Promise to owl me lots?" she asked.

"I promise," Blaise replied. "Every chance I get, ok?"

"Ok," Brenna replied happily.

"Maybe I'll see you again some time during Christmas."

"Ok. Bye, Blaise. Bye, Harry!" I smiled and waved.

"Bye, Brenna."

Joli picked up her daughter and the family apparated off the platform.

I turned and walked back to where my parents were standing, leaving Blaise and Ron alone.

"Who were they?" Mum asked.

"They're relatives of my friend Blaise." I replied.

"Lily?" Molly Weasley walked up to my mum, looking cheerful.

"Hello, Molly," Mum said happily.

"Hey, Molly," said Dad.

"Hello, James. How are the two of you?" Molly asked.

"We're lovely, Molly, and yourself?" Dad asked.

"I'm quite well, thank you."

I went back to stand with Ron and Blaise.

"How do you like your new freedom?" I asked, referring to the absence of Hermione's binding spell.

Ron shrugged. "I didn't mind."

Blaise laughed. "At least now I know he's not just putting up with me because he has to."

I laughed as Ron elbowed his boyfriend in he ribs. "Oy!" he said.

Blaise, still laughing, leaned over and whispered something into Ron's ear. Ron rolled his eyes.

"You know what?" Ron said defiantly. "No chocolate** or** whipped cream for you until you stop doing that to me in public!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, please," I groaned.

"Are you ready to go, Harry?" Mum asked from behind me.

"Yep," I said to her. "See you New Year's?" I asked Ron and Blaise.

"We'll be there," said Ron.

We said our goodbyes and Ron, Blaise and Molly disappeared through the barrier.

Mum and Dad each took one of my arms and, with a count to three, disapparated to Godric's Hollow.

(A/N – So, I've got a few new things going here. Something is wrong with Hermione (be prepared to cry when that gets cleared up), and Blaise actually has family that's not Voldie-Crazy. We'll see where that goes.

So I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review!)


	18. Yes, I Am

(A/N – So…I had to put the next chapter on hold to write this. This is _almost_ exactly word for word what happened to me the other day. I needed to get it off my chest. I don't care if you review…)

Chapter 17 – Yes, I am – Dean's POV

The night I got home from Hogwarts, I had been sitting in my room reading a book called _The Journey Out _©. I don't know why, but for some reason the book inspired me to come out to my mum.

I went into the living room where I found my mum, sister, and brother watching TV. I grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice (which I had convinced my mum to buy, as I now had a taste for it), and went back into my room. I would tell her later when I could be alone with her.

A few minutes after nine, after her show ended, I was on my way back to check if my siblings had left yet and found my mum on the way to bed already. She said goodnight and went into her en suite, leaving the bedroom door open.

I wandered away slowly, my nerves failing. But then I decided to get my courage back up, and went to wait in her room for her. She wouldn't have a problem with it. I was worried for no reason, everything would be fine. A few minutes later she emerged.

I was extremely nervous. I was shaking slightly and blushing.

I walked over to her and hugged her.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

I couldn't speak. I was so nervous that I laughed, unable to stop myself.

"Just tell me. What's wrong?" she asked.

At this point I wished I could just change my mind and say never mind, but I knew she knew something was up, and she would want something out of me.

"Just come out with it," she said.

I laughed. "Did you hear what you just said?" I asked.

"Come out with it?" she repeated.

I nodded. "…I'm gay…"

"Oh, Dean. You're not!"

I looked at her strangely. "Um…Yes I am."

"No…"

"How do you know?" I asked.

"…Is this because of your friend Ron?" she asked.

"No…"

"Is it because of Seamus?"

"No, Mum. This is me!"

There was complete silence for a few seconds.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I don't know…Would you rather I not tell you?" I asked.

"No, I'm glad you're telling me. What made you think that, though?"

"What? I don't…I've known since before last summer…"

"Well what made you think it then?" she asked

"Nothing '_made me think it_,'" I said irritably. I definitely shouldn't have told her.

There was a silence that seemed to last millennia.

"I don't know what to say…" she said quietly.

I shrugged. "I'm going to bed," I said.

She hugged me. "I love you."

I left the room and went back to my desk to owl Seamus. I had to rewrite my letter three times, as I didn't want him to receive one with tearstains on it.

After I sent my owl Francis with the letter, I lay on my bed to wait for a reply.


	19. Meet The Family

(A/N – Sorry for the wait. I just could not get that last scene down. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and check out my website, which is available in my bio. It is Geocities crap but I'm still pretty proud of it.

Thank you!)

Chapter 18 – Meet The Family – Blaise's POV

"You know what I never realized?" I asked, slipping my arm around Ron's waist.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I am dating the son of the Minister for Magic," I replied, smirking cockily.

Ron groaned. "I was quite happy with you not realizing that, thanks."

I laughed as we climbed into the limousine which had been supplied by the ministry.

Although regularly proportioned from the outside, the limo seemed to be about a mile long from the inside. Molly sat up at the front with the driver, while we sat at the very back and closed the window between the driver's cab and the back, giving us complete privacy.

I sat against the comfy, plush leather seats, right in the back corner of the limo, leaning against the side wall. Ron slid right up next to me and rested his head on my shoulder, closing his eyes.

"Tired?" I whispered.

He nodded without opening his eyes. I slipped my arm around his shoulders and let him lie against my chest.

"Excited?" Ron asked, looking up at me.

"Will I be sleeping with you?" I asked.

Ron laughed. "Fortunately, all five of my brothers who've moved out are going to be at the house for the holiday… plus two of their girlfriends. There's nowhere else for you to sleep."

I shook my head. "I can't imagine having five brothers…"

"You don't want to…trust me," he replied, laughing. "Oh and by the way, I'd watch my back if I were you. They nearly killed Draco when they found out about him and Gin. Well…I supposed I was involved as well…But then again, that was only me, Fred and George. For you Percy, Bill and Charlie are going to be there as well."

"Trying to scare me, are you?" I asked. "It's not working," I said, hoping I was keeping the slight worry out of my voice.

"Of course it isn't, Blaise." Ron rolled his eyes. "They might just lecture you. But I doubt it."

I couldn't hold in a groan.

Ron chuckled softly. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Will you, now?" I asked.

"Uh huh," he said, turning around and climbing on me, so he was straddling my lap. "I can take them."

"All of them?"

"Well…no. But I can take Percy!" he said, sounding very proud of himself.

"Very good," I said. I rested my hands on his hips and stretched up to kiss him.

"Mmm…" Ron leaned into the kiss, sliding one hand behind my head to play with my hair.

He pulled away slowly, kissed my lightly on the nose, and slid off to sit right against me on the seat. He leaned his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes.

"I'm so tired," he whispered as I brushed a long strand of gorgeous red hair off his face.

"You're so cute," I whispered, kissing his hair.

The tips of his ears turned pink and he groaned.

"Go to sleep," I chuckled quietly. "I'll wake you when we get there."

"I don't know if I should trust you or not…" he said suspiciously.

"Awe, you insult me. Go to sleep, bebe."

He snuggled into my arms and closed his eyes for good.

o

We were woken about an hour later by Mrs. Weasley. We had both fallen asleep on the way home.

Our trunks were carried into the house. I studied the building carefully. It looked as though it had, very recently, been expensively renovated. Fresh, clean looking brick lined the walls, making it look brand new and very cozy. The front door was freshly painted. There was a skeleton structure on one side of it, where, apparently, they were presently expanding.

The entire house was covered in about three inches of snow. The effect was something that belonged on a post card.

My heart started to pound as we approached the door. I wasn't really worried about Ron's brothers killing me. I was just nervous about meeting them, and about any prejudices they might have against me, my father being who he was.

"Here we are," said Mrs. Weasley. She stepped through the door and disappeared down the hall, leaving the front door open.

My foot faltered as I was about to step across the threshold.

Ron turned around and smiled warmly. "You'll do fine," he said confidently. "I was only kidding about my brothers, you know."

I smiled nervously, stepping into the warm house. Ron closed the door and took my cloak. I unfastened my robes, exposing my silver silk shirt and grey pants.

Ron wiggled his eyebrows at me, taking his robes off completely. He unfastened the top few buttons on his shirt and rolled up his sleeves. I gulped. He took my hand and pulled me down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Come on. You'll do great," he said just before we entered.

When I stepped into the kitchen, I immediately got a homey feeling. This was nothing like my family's manor; it looked lived in. It looked as if humans actually entered the kitchen regularly, not just the house elves. It was warm and bright; very Gryffindor with red paint, yellow dishes set on the table.

I smiled at Mr. Weasley and shook his hand. "Blaise Zabini, Minister," I said nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Blaise," he replied warmly. "And call me Arthur."

Next I shook hands with Percy, who I had seen at school before. He seemed about as cheerful and approachable as he had at school. "Good evening," he said emotionlessly, without a smile. "I shall be retiring to my room now, Mother, if that's alright."

"Night, Percy," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully.

"Don't mind Perce. We don't know what he's got shoved up his ass but it mustn't be pleasant," Ron whispered in my ear.

"Sit down, Blaise," said Mrs. Weasley, ushering me towards the giant table where apparently most of the family, and then some, were sitting.

I sat down across from a man with long red hair and a dragon fang earring, who was sitting with a young woman with short, lime green hair. "I'm Bill," he said, reaching across the table to shake my hand. "And this is Nymph-Ouch!" he said as the woman elbowed him in the side. He rolled his eyes. "This is _Tonks_," he said.

"I told you not to call me that," she said quietly. Bill winced in slight pain; it seemed that Tonks was grinding her heel into his foot.

Next to Bill was a slightly younger looking man with short red hair and a large bandage on his left arm. His hands were shiny with burns. "I'm Charlie," he said. "I won't shake your hand," he added, indicating his burnt hand. I nodded, smiling.

Charlie turned to the woman sitting next to him. I recognized her, but I couldn't remember where from.

"This is Fleur," he said to me. The girl brushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes and smiled warmly at me.

"Good evening," she said, in a heavy French accent. And then I remembered where I knew her form. The TriWizard Tournament... Beauxbatons champion. She was part veela.

Ron slipped into the seat next to me. "Those two are Fred and George," he said, indicating the twins who were talking animatedly at the other end of the table. "Oy! Gred and Forge!" he called down the table.

The two young men looked up quickly. I waved down the table at them. There was a look between them that I didn't like, before they both stood simultaneously and walked down the table towards me. They sat on either side of me, one of them pushing Ron off his chair and right onto the floor.

"Uh…" I mumbled.

"Let me guess…you wanted to defend him, but you're scared of us?" said the one on my right.

I raised an eyebrow. "Um…"

"That's what I thought," said the one on my left. "That's exactly the attitude we want."

"You defend him to anyone but us," said the other one. "And you better defend him,"

"Or you'll wish you'd never been born. And don't even think about hurting him,"

"Or we'll kill ya!" said one of the twins, raising a glass filled with firewhiskey and taking a gulp, smiling. "I'm Gred," he shook my slightly shaking hand. "And this is my brother Forge." The other twin shook my hand.

"Blaise…" I choked, trying to get my voice back. The twins both stood. "Good evening to you, Blaise," said…er, Gred? And they both returned to their seats at the end of the table and resumed their previous conversation.

Ron climbed off the floor and stood beside my chair. "Er…Don't mind them," he said, offering his hand and pulling me out of my chair. "Night, everyone," he called over the voices of the crowded kitchen. I followed him out and down the hall.

We climbed up several staircases; I lost count after three. We finally reached what must have been the top floor, where there was a single door with a plaque reading 'Ronald's Room' nailed to it. "Erm…Don't mind the colour," he muttered before opening the door and leading the way in.

I was nearly blinded as I entered the violent orange room. The walls were painted a glowing orange, and were plastered with posters of a quidditch team, obviously the Cannons, in robes that perfectly matched Ron's walls. Not to mention his hair.

I smiled. "That's cute," I said teasingly.

"No it's not," he pouted. "The renovations haven't gotten this far yet."

I laughed and looked around the room a bit more. I noticed there were two beds.

I raised an eyebrow. "Planning on any more company?" I asked.

Ron blushed and rolled his eyes. "That would be Mum's wishful thinking. There is no way you are sleeping in the same room with me and not being in my bed."

"Good," I rested my hand on his cheek and kissed him lightly. His eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into it.

"Mmm…" he sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

I felt his arms sliding under my cloak to untuck my shirt as I started on his shirt buttons. As I reached the lower buttons I yanked the shirt out of his pants and slid my hands across his toned stomach. He sighed under my touch and pushed my robes off my shoulders.

The bedroom door swung open just as I reached for his belt buckle. We jumped apart.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin. And just when I thought I might get used to walking in on my brothers…" and Gred or Forge…or George? Whoever it was…closed the door with a snap.

Ron rolled his eyes and stepped back up to me, pulling me by the waist of my pants, his fingertips just under the edge to pull my by. "Where were we…" he pressed his lips into mine again.

I went back to unfastening his belt buckle. I ripped open his pants and they slid down his legs. I thrust my hand into his boxers and he pulled away from my lips, gasping loudly.

I backed him up until his back hit the door and bit down lightly on his neck. He moaned and fumbled with my belt.

A few moments later we were both completely divest of our clothes and, at the burning feeling of raw skin contact, we lost ourselves in each other.


	20. Big Announcement

Chapter 19 – Big Announcement – Lily's POV

(This is so exciting! I've actually been working on this chapter for quite a while, at the same time as the last two, but I've saved it until now. I'm so excited about this. Ok…here it goes. Enjoy!)

We arrived in the kitchen of our house in Godric's Hollow after we picked Harry up from Kings Cross.

The house had been perfectly restored to its original state while James and I were in the hospital.

Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and the _Prophet._

"Oh, hey Harry. Have a good term?" he asked, looking up from his paper.

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Harry said. He walked over to the table and sat down opposite Sirius.

"Have you told him yet, Lily?" Sirius asked.

"Told me what?" Harry asked suspiciously.

I shook my head. James and I both sat down at the table with Harry and Sirius.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"We've got something to tell you, Harry," James said.

"Ok…" Harry replied slowly.

"Well…" I said. It had been a lot easier to tell Sirius this news. "I'm pregnant, Harry."

Harry blinked.

"Really?" he asked.

I nodded.

His face broke out into a grin. "Cool."

James laughed.

"How long have you known?" Harry asked.

"About a month and a half, but we wanted to tell you in person," I replied. I was very relieved at his reaction.

I leaned against James, whose chair was right next to mine. He reached over and brushed the hair out of my eyes.

"You want a boy or a girl?" Sirius asked us.

James shrugged. "S'long as it's alive and healthy, I'm happy. Well…us being alive as well might be a nice change," he added as an afterthought.

"I want a girl," I said, "Someone to dance to 'Man, I feel like a woman' with."

Sirius and James both gave me puzzled looks. Harry laughed.

"What's so funny?" James asked.

Harry shrugged. "Muggle thing," he said. I smiled proudly.

"Oh, great," James groaned. "You see? If we hadn't died, he wouldn't know anything about all this…well…whatever it is you're talking about."

I laughed. "Wanna bet?" I asked. "I assure you, he would know plenty about muggle music."

James laughed and kissed my hair lightly. "Whatever you say, princess."

"Yes, that's right. Whatever I say. And I say go get me a cup of tea and some chocolate frogs," I grinned.

James rolled his eyes as slid out of his seat to get my things.

"Oh, wait. Forget the tea, I'll have pumpkin juice. No wait…orange juice. And could you put chocolate sauce in it? Thanks, Jamie," I said.

He cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. A few minutes later he arrived back at the table carrying a tall glass or orangey-brown liquid and a large pile of chocolate frogs. I took a swig of the juice, sighed contentedly, and dug into the frogs.

James sat down cautiously, as if worried I might explode. I glanced up at him. "The mood swings haven't started yet. I'm not going to have a tantrum if I don't get the right chocolate frog cards."

"Actually, if I remember correctly, Lil…you started having temper tantrums before you even knew you were pregnant with Harry," Sirius said without looking up from his newspaper. I kicked him under the table. He gasped loudly. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his leg.

James chuckled softly, but his face suddenly became serious when I looked up at him. I burst out laughing.

James' eyes widened in shock. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked worriedly.

I shrugged.

"Ok…I think it's time for you to go to bed…" James stood and pulled my out of my chair.

I sighed. "You're right, it's late," I said, calming my fit of laughter. "Night, Harry, night Sirius."

"Night, Mum," Harry picked up the _Prophet_, which Sirius had finished.

"Good night Lil, Prongs," said Sirius.

"Any excuse to get me alone, hmm?" I asked as James closed the bedroom door softly.

"Of course," he said, grinning wickedly. He stalked towards me and slid his arms around my waist.

"Mmm…" I sighed as he kissed me fiercely. I began biting and sucking my way down his neck. "You are so…fucking…sexy…" I said between kisses.

James laughed. "I don't know about the sexy part, but the fucking…now that I can deal with."

And with that he pushed me down onto the bed and crawled on top of me, working away at the zipper of my jeans.

o

A few days later, Christmas Eve, I was sitting on the bed wrapping Christmas gifts when Harry knocked on the door and shouted, "I need to go to Hogsmeade. It's an emergency."

I threw the quilt over my gifts and slipped out the door, closing it behind me. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm missing part of Hermione's present. And I need fresh roses…Dad's charm didn't work on them. They died."

Lily laughed. "I'll give you a little hint. Don't let him do little stuff like that…he sucks at it," I laughed. I grabbed my cloak out of the closet. "Ok, let's go." I put my arm over Harry's shoulder and apparated to Main street of Hogsmeade.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked cheerfully.

"Jewelry store," he replied. We walked down the snowy street and into the jeweler's.

The inside of the store was a light purple, the carpet a soft, slightly darker purple velvet. There was a coat hanger by the door, and Harry and I hung our cloaks on it.

"Good afternoon, Sir," said the man behind the front desk as Harry approached him. "Oh…Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded and shook the man's hand, used to this behavior from the public by now. "Good afternoon."

"How can I help you, Mr. Potter?" the man asked cheerfully.

"I'm looking for silver charm bracelets," Harry replied. The man nodded.

"Right this way, Mr. Potter." He came out from behind the front desk, placing a small bell on the desk, and led Harry to one of the glass display cases at the back of the store. I followed closely behind them.

"This display, right here," said the man, giving the glass a quick wipe with a cloth from his pocket, "As well as that one, right behind you. Shall I leave you to have a look?"

"Yes, please," Harry replied. He turned his attention to the display case in front of him.

Harry spent several minutes scanning over every bracelet in the display case in front of him, before moving onto the next one and studying it with equal delicacy. Once he was done, he returned to the original one and looked over them all again, slightly quicker this time.

"What do you think of this one, mum?" he asked, looking up from the display. I walked over to him and he pointed to a beautiful silver bracelet.

It had two different sized links, alternating with one large, and then one small. Each large link had two tiny diamonds on each side. The clasp was small and shaped like a heart, with a thin loop of the metal from one lump of the heart to the other, making it look like a miniscule padlock. Each end of the chain was linked around the tiny loop. In the middle of the heart was a small keyhole.

"Excuse me," Harry called out to the attendant. "Could I have a look at this one?"

The man quickly crossed the wide floor of the shop, pulling a large set of keys from his pocket. "Certainly," he said, smiling.

He slid the key into the door at the back of the glass display case, and pulled out the bracelet, as well as a small box which it was resting on. He set it down carefully on the counter.

"This is one of my favorites," said the man. "It comes with these keys…" he opened the box which the bracelet had been sitting on and pulled out two fairly small silver keys, about the size one would expect of a diary key. "When you put one of these keys in the hole in the clasp, it turns the bracelet on. Er…Is it safe to assume that this is for your girlfriend, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded.

"Right, so there are two key. One for this girl, and one for yourself. The keys bind the wearers. If one is in danger, both keys will glow red and become warm."

"Nice choice, Harry," I said, admiring the bracelet.

"Ok. Wait…you said something about turning the bracelet on?" Harry asked.

"Ah yes," said the shopkeeper. He picked up one of the keys and slipped it into the hole in the clasp. He turned it all the way around and pulled it out again, before handing the bracelet to Harry. "Take a look, Mr. Potter."

Harry held the bracelet up so he could see it. Where diamonds had been a few seconds ago, here were now rubies. After a few seconds the rubies were replaced by sapphires, and then by emeralds. In about a minute, the bracelet had gone through a complete rainbow of precious gemstones…and then some.

"It's beautiful…" I said.

Harry passed the bracelet back to the shopkeeper. I'll take it. Could I look at charms, please?"

The man nodded and led Harry over to a spinning display case near the front. "This one is all silver, and the next one is all gold." He left Harry and I to browse.

Harry picked out a plain, silver heart and then went to look at the rack of silver chains on the counter next to him. He scanned them for a few minutes, before picking out two chains, both exactly the same only one was larger. He took the bracelet, the charm, and the chains up to the front desk to pay.

After the shopkeeper put everything in boxes and gift wrapped it, we walked down to the florist and bought a dozen red roses, two black, and two white. I cast a charm on them to prevent them from wilting as we exited the shop. "That should last a few months," I said.

Harry smiled. "Perfect."

o

When we arrived home the house was empty save for an owl which Harry recognized as Percy's owl, Hermes. I took the letter from him and he took off out the window which was open a little in case of letters.

_Dear Lily, James, Sirius, and Harry,_

_We hope you can join us for Christmas dinner tomorrow afternoon. If you are coming, feel free to apparate in any time after 2. Have a lovely Christmas morning, Hope to see you here._

_Love Molly, Arthur, and the family._

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's from Molly," I said. "Just reminding us about dinner tomorrow night. Shall I make lunch?"

Harry nodded.


	21. Christmas Morning

(A/N – Sorry for the wait…I got a bit of writer's block. Enjoy the chapter!)

Chapter 20 - Christmas morning - Dean's POV

I was politely woken by my six year old sister jumping on me at four in the morning and screaming "Wake up, Bean! It's Christmas!"

Yes…she calls me Bean.

I groaned. "Alright, Zucchini, I'm up." Yes, I call her Zucchini. Her real name is Brittney.

I rolled over and found that Seamus' owl was sitting on my bedside table. My stomach fluttered in excitement. I flicked on my lamp, and then reached into the drawer and pulled out a few owl treats, before untying the letter.

"Can I read it?" Brittney asked.

"No," I said, practically tearing the letter in my rush to open it.

"Is it from your girlfriend?" she asked mockingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Go away. I'll come get you in a minute."

"Fine." She stomped out of the room.

_Dean,_

_Oh bebe, I'm so sorry about your Mum. I'm sorry I didn't write back sooner. I'm so sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I love you. _

_So I know this might be a little late, and I don't know how early you normally get up on Christmas morning but my Parents said it would be ok if you came here after breakfast, and stay for the rest of the day. I don't know if you have family plans or anything. Please don't feel bad if you can't come. If you have somewhere else to be…maybe you can come tomorrow or something. _

_I hope you can come…_

_Owl me back as soon as you get this. Or…as soon as you have an answer. Whenever you can._

_Love you so much!_

_Seamus_

I laughed at the disjointedness of his letter. I almost gushed at how cute it was and then realized that my brother was standing in the doorway. His hair looked wet.

I coughed. "Hi."

"What you reading?" he crossed the room and tried to snatch the letter out of my hand. I pulled it out of his reach just in time.

"None of your business. Zucchini get you up?" I replied, changing the subject.

"Yeah. Apparently I wasn't getting up fast enough for her so she dumped water on my head."

I laughed.

My brother David was 18, about a year and a half older than me. He was currently in his last year of muggle high school.

"I have to ask you something," he said.

"Shoot," I said, pulling on a t-shirt.

"Are you…gay?" he whispered.

I dropped the comb I had been running through my hair. "What…?"

"It's not like…I mean, I don't really care. I mean…it's not like a bad thing…I guess," he stumbled over his words.

I just sat there on my bed staring at him, my jaw hanging down. "Uh…" I muttered after a few minutes.

"If you don't want to talk…" he started.

"No. I mean…Yeah. Yeah, I am. Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he asked.

"Um…I don't really know. No answering right away, I guess."

He nodded. I laughed uncomfortably. "Cool…"

"Yeah…" I replied slowly.

"So um…Who's the letter from?" he asked, obviously thinking he might be changing the subject. Obviously he wasn't.

"Um…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him. "My…boyfriend," I said finally.

"Oh…" he laughed. "Wow…"

"What?" I asked.

"You have a boyfriend fore I even have a girlfriend."

I laughed. "Yeah, and you're older."

He laughed too, comfortably this time.

"Don't tell mum," I said.

"As long as you don't tell her that I'm failing History and Chemistry."

I laughed. "Your secret is safe with me," I said.

"Let's go have Christmas."

"Is Mum up?" I asked.

"Of course," David replied.

o

_Seamus,_

_You don't have to be sorry about anything. None of this is your fault._

_I asked my Mum if I could come today and she said yes. I'm ready whenever you are, just floo in and I'll come back with you._

_Love, Dean._

I scrawled my messy signature and folded the letter hastily, tying it to Francis' leg and carrying her over to the front door.

I ran back up the stairs and changed my shirt. Then I decided that the pants didn't match the shirt so I changed those too. I looked in the mirror and realized that the shirt was a little big so I changed it again, and finally I was satisfied.

I practically flew into the bathroom, opening the cupboard so fast that it banged against the wall and made a mark. I winced slightly, reaching in to get the hair gel.

I spent about 20 minutes perfecting my hair, and I was just about to wash the huge amount of gel off my hands when I heard my Mum call "Dean!" up the stairs.

I started rushing. I quickly washed the gel off my hands and got out my toothbrush. "What?" I called back down the stairs, just as Seamus appeared at the top. "Oh…hey!" I said, smiling.

"Hey," he grinned. He walked into the bathroom and pushed the door closed before launching himself at me, trying to kiss me.

I laughed. "Wait…" I said, waving my toothbrush.

He rolled his eyes. "Do it later."

"I just ate breakfast," I laughed.

He grinned wickedly. "I don't care."

I sighed, smiling, and gave up, pulling him into my arms and kissing him. His hand slid up my back and into my hair, before sliding under the tap, rinsing the gel off, and toweling itself dry, his lips never breaking contact with mine. I smiled into his kiss.

"Not funny," he mumbled, kissing his way down my neck.

"Very funny," I sighed back. "You saw me doing my hair when you came up.

"Shhh…" he whispered, his hands sliding around my waist and holding me lovingly, not a hint of hidden intentions in his touch.

I brushed my fingertips over his cheek before tilting his chin up to mine and pecking him lightly. "Can I brush my teeth now?" I asked.

"Noooo…" he groaned "You taste better than stupid mint toothpaste."

I laughed. "It's cinnamon," I said. "And you're just saying that. I don't want bad breath when I meet your parents."

"Oh, so that's what you're nervous about…" he said comprehensively.

"What?" I asked.

"Your Mum said you'd been in the bathroom for half an hour when I got here. You always spend forever on your hair when you're nervous."

"Oh…" I blushed slightly. Seamus smiled.

"Oh my God, you're so adorable." He kissed me lightly on the cheek and pulled me out of the bathroom by my hand.

He practically flew down the stairs, leaving me to trail behind.

"You have way too much energy," I said as I caught up to him.

"You don't have enough energy," he responded quickly.

I laughed. "My sister got me up at four."

"Uh huh…" he stepped into the fire place while I grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped in after him.

"Bye Mum," I called as Seamus said his address and we went swirling through the floo network.

After a few moments, we stopped suddenly.

"Welcome to Ireland," Seamus said cheerfully.

I opened my eyes, which had been tightly shut for the journey. "Why, thank you," I smiled.

"Seamus? Is that you?" came a voice from the next room.

"Yeah, Mum," he called back. He held out his hand and helped me step out of the fire place.

A mid height, red haired woman with a wand sticking out of her pocket came into the room. "You must be Dean," she said, smiling. "Happy Christmas. I'm Melanie." Seamus' mother's accent was even stronger than his.

"Happy Christmas," I replied politely.

"Mark!" Melanie called towards the back door.

The door opened and a tall man with sandy blonde hair came in, stamping the snow off his shoes as he did. "You must be Dean," he shook my hand. "Mark."

"Nice to meet you," I said, a little nervously.

"Oh…k. We're going upstairs now," Seamus said quickly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs, nearly pulling my arm out of its socket.

"Behave yourselves!" Melanie called after us. Seamus rolled his eyes.

"I thought you said they were in denial?" I asked as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Eh…they got over it," Seamus replied.

He pulled me down the hall to a white door with a tiny shamrock sticker in the middle. He reached for the handle and then froze.

"Um…" he blushed slightly. "Have you seen Ron's room?"

I nodded slowly.

"Um…this is sort of the same idea," he said blushingly. "…And equally embarrassing."

I laughed. "Ok, now open the door before I ravish you here in the hallway."

He waggled his eyebrows and opened the door which, as I had expected, cast an eerie green glow into the hallway.

I stepped into the room to find a large number of posters of the Irish national team. However, instead of their uniform robes, most of the posters displayed the male quidditch players in shamrock printed boxer shorts.

I smirked as Seamus shut the door behind his with a click. I stared around the walls and ceiling for a few moments before he cleared his throat.

"Yes?" I asked,

"You mentioned something about ravaging me?" he smirked.

I grinned wickedly and slammed him backwards into the door before he knew what was happening. I pinned his hips with mine and my lips hovered over his for a few seconds before he groaned impatiently and pressed into me, kissing me fiercely.

"Mmm…" I sighed a few minutes later, relaxing my hold on him. "Merry Christmas to you too…"

He chuckled and rested his head back against the door, eyes closed. I reached up and touched his cheek and he smiled, his eyes remaining closed.

"I have something for you," he said, slipping past me and crawling under his bed. He crawled out with a large box wrapped in gold with a red bow around it.

"How very Gryffindor," I smirked. He handed me the box. I sat down on his bed and tore the paper roughly. It was a plain cardboard box inside. I slid open the flaps and there was a black and silver football inside.

I smiled and tipped the ball out of the box and was looking it over when I saw a scrawled signature across one side. My jaw dropped.

"Don… Hutchinson?" I asked. I was actually shaking. "As in Don Hutchinson from West Ham United? Are you fucking kidding me?" Seamus was grinning widely. "How did you know?"

Seamus just raised an eyebrow. "I _have_ been in our dorm at school, you know. How many posters of him do you have, exactly?" he asked.

"Seventeen," I said slowly, still in awe. "How did you get it?"

"I went to a signing thing in a muggle mall."

My jaw dropped once again. "You MET him!" I asked loudly. He smirked. "Isn't he, like, the hottest thing you've ever seen?"

"Nope," Seamus replied unblinkingly.

I glared. "Don't you go insulting-"

"**YOU**…are the hottest thing I've ever seen," he cut in quickly.

I shut my mouth quickly. "Oh my god. I love you." I jumped on him, pinning his back against the door again and smothering his mouth.

He kissed me back for a few seconds before pulling his lips a few centimeters away from mine. "I love you too," he whispered. Then I kissed him so hard that his head nearly smashed against the door. His arms came up around my waist and he crushed his body against mine, almost painfully. I groaned at the contact.

He suddenly whirled me around so that my back was against the door, his knee between my thighs, putting him in complete control. I moaned loudly into his lips as he ground his thigh into me.

"Wait…wait," I whispered into his lips. "I have something for you, too."

"Can't it wait?" he whispered back, trailing his lips down my neck.

"It won't take long, I promise."

Seamus groaned but pulled away and sat down softly on the bed. I sat next to him and he ran his fingers through my hair. I pulled a small, navy blue box with a silver ribbon out of my pocket.

"This is…um…kind of corny," I blushed slightly, hesitating.

He ran a hand over my cheek. "I love that corny kind of stuff," he said.

"Of course you do, fag," I replied lovingly, handing over the small package.

He carefully untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. He smiled when he saw what was inside. He lifted a broad, strong looking sliver chain out of the box and read the ID tag which said 'S+D,' with a tiny ruby on each side of the letters. He handed me the bracelet and put on its partner from the box. The bracelets were identical, solid silver.

"I'd say the words, but I figure there are better ways to thank you," he said softly, leaning towards me. I wound my fingers into his short hair and pulled him down on top of my as I lay back on his bed, his lips crushing mine violently. I groaned loudly as he flipped open my belt and slid his hand down my pants…


	22. PTS And Cigarettes

Chapter 21 – PTS and Cigarettes –Ron's POV 

I felt something warm move beside me. Blaise roused me from sleep as he slowly rolled out from under the sheets and off the bed.

"Where are you going?" I croaked, eyes still closed.

He coughed quietly. "Toilet…I'll be back in a minute."

I rolled onto my stomach and buried my head under the pillow. I lay in that position for a full minute before I realized it was Christmas.

I sat bolt upright and nearly ran out the door before I realized I was still completely naked from the night before. I looked around for my pajama pants but it looked as if Blaise had taken mine so I quickly threw his on and nearly danced down the hall after him.

I found the bathroom door open a crack so I peered through to see what he was doing. It looked like he was just sitting on the bathroom counter so I knocked quietly and pushed the door open. Blaise jumped, squeaked, and nearly dropped the cigarette in his hand. He attempted to hide it behind his back but a trail of smoke soon appeared to be drifting up from behind his head.

The tiny bathroom window was open and it looked like he had been wafting the smoke out the window.

"Um…" he attempted to speak.

"Since when do you smoke…?" I asked slowly.

He sighed and stopped trying to hide it, but still looked nervous. "Since I was nine…" he said slowly.

My eyes widened. "And you didn't tell me?" I asked.

"I've tried to quit twice since we got together…I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you. It's not something I'm proud of."

"How did you hide the smell?"

"Magic…" he replied.

I nodded. "How did you start when you were nine?"

"I found some in my dad's study and asked him about them…he said I could have them if I promised not to tell anyone he was smoking muggle cigarettes. He was embarrassed. I was nine…I was hooked after the first pack."

I sighed. "Are you going to try to quit again?"

"Well…I'm trying to quit now and look how well that's working out." Blaise looked longingly at the cigarette, but seemed to be avoiding smoking it in front of me.

I cocked an eyebrow. "I've always thought guys smoking was kind of sexy," I said smirking.

He laughed. "Oh really…" he took a drag. "Well I've always thought that you in only a pair of pajama pants was kind of sexy." The he added "…Fire crotch," so quietly that I nearly missed it.

I rolled my eyes but I could feel a slight blush. "I still want you to quit…" I said quickly.

"I will," he whispered. He signaled me over to him. I pushed the door closed with my foot and he locked it withhis wand. I leaned against the counter between his thighs and kissed him softly. He pulled away after a few minutes to take another drag and then started biting my neck. I sighed and started running my fingertips over his toned stomach.

He stopped biting my neck for a minute and picked up his wand off the counter. "What are you doing?" I asked quickly.

"Putting up a silencing charm," he replied. "I'm so glad I'm of age before you. Puts me in a great position."

I rolled my eyes. "What makes you think you're going to need a silencing charm," I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Just a little hunch," he said, smirking right back.

Just as he was about to raise his wand again there was a loud banging on the door. "Who's in there?" Charlie called through the door. "I need the shower, now!"

I closed my eyes exasperatedly. I grabbed Blaise's cigarette and threw it out the window, and then pulled him off the counter and out the bathroom door. "Asshole," I muttered as I walked past Charlie. He just smirked when he saw Blaise.

"Sorry," he chuckled.

I pulled Blaise down the hall and into my room. I pushed him backwards towards the bed until his legs hit and he tumbled down backwards.

"Someone's in a hurry…" he said, but there wasn't a hint of complaint in his voice.

"Have to make up for lost time. It's 6:45 and we have to be downstairs at 7."

He smirked. "Want a quickie before Christmas, do yeh?"

I laughed, "You could call it that," and slid onto the bed on top of him, promptly shutting him up.

o

After gift opening and breakfast I decided to give Blaise a tour of the areas of the house which were unfinished. It was a good opportunity as the workers were not working on Christmas day, and we had nothing to do until two o'clock.

I was getting bored at looking at half-finished floor tiling and half-painted rooms, so I pushed Blaise into an almost-finished bathroom and closed the door, locking it and pinning him against it with my hips. I was just about to kiss him when he suddenly went stiff and shivered violently.

I stepped back and looked at him. His eyes were glazed over and he was staring at the wall behind me. I turned around to see a blank wall with a plumbing pipe sticking only a few millimeters out of it at about knee level. There was a small trickle of water running down the tiled wall.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly, turning back to Blaise. I found him leaning against the door shivering. "Blaise?" I waved my hand in front of his eyes but they remained unfocused. He suddenly shook violently and slid down the door to the floor.

"Blaise! Look at me. What's going on? Blaise!" He jumped at my yelling and his eyes came back into focus.

"Oh…shit." He leaned over to the side and vomited on the floor.

I froze in shock. "What the fuck…what's going on?"

He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and groaned.

"Seriously, Zabini, you're scaring me..."

Blaise clutched at his stomach with one hand and buried his face in the other.

I had no idea what to do. "Do you want to go lie down?" I asked worriedly. He nodded. I quickly hauled him off the floor, slung his arm over my shoulder, stepped over the pile of vomit, and dragged him all the way up to my room.

I put him down on the bed and pulled the covers up to his waist. "I'll be back in a minute, ok?" I whispered. He nodded slowly and I ran off down the hall and into the bathroom. I got a glass of water, and took a bucket out of the closet just in case.

I set the bucket on the floor next to my bed and propped Blaise up against some pillows to drink the water. After a few sips I set the glass down on the nightstand and ran back out of the room do find anyone who could legally clean up the mess in the unfinished bathroom by magic.

I found Fred and quickly explained the problem to him, and he said he would take care of it. Then I ran back up to my room and sat down on the bed next to Blaise. My heart was pounding with nervousness.

"Ok, tell me what happened," I said soothingly, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes.

"Um…" he hesitated. "Remember when I told you about last summer?" Blaise croaked. I nodded. "And…do you remember how I told you that all I wad was water for two weeks?"

"Yes…" I said slowly.

"Well…my father didn't exactly know I had water…"

"What?" I asked, confused. "But you would have died if you didn't have water for two weeks."

Blaise shuddered slightly. "The water came from a leaky pipe like the one in that bathroom. Seeing it kind of…shocked me. I sort of…relived…um…"

I slid into the bed next to him and wrapped my arms around him. "You can tell me…" I whispered into his ear.

He rested his head on my shoulder. "Well…When I was still…alive…after a week and a half, he wanted to know why. He found the water. He wasn't too happy about it…That's why I was in such bad shape when Dumbledore came for me. He went crazy."

I rubbed his back soothingly for about ten minutes before he relaxed and fell into a light sleep on my shoulder. I let him sleep for a little while until, looking at my clock, I realized that the guests would be arriving in ten minutes.

"Blaise," I whispered, brushing his cheek lightly with my fingertips. "Blaise, wake up. Everyone's going to be here soon."

Blaise stirred and buried his head further into my shoulder, groaning tiredly.

"Come on, baby. You have to get up."

Blaise lifted his head off my shoulder slowly, blinking blearily. "Come on," I said, "You should brush your teeth. I bet that tastes awful."

He nodded and we both climbed out of bed and walked slowly down the hall and into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth three times before he was satisfied.

"Can you close the door?" he asked croakily.

"Why?" I asked, but did as he had said.

"I need a smoke…" The door clicked shut and locked. "Thanks."

He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with his wand.

"Can I…try it?" I asked, intrigued.

"No," Blaise answered quickly.

"What? Come on. Just let me try," I protested.

"No way. I am not letting you get hooked just because I am. I love you way too much to let you do this to yourself."

"I'm not going to get hooked! I just want to try it."

"Ron…" Blaise sighed.

"Ok…ok, you're right. That was stupid," I said resignedly after a few seconds. "…I love you too…"

Blaise smiled, brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and kissed my lightly.

"Are you feeling ok?"Iasked concernedly.

"Yeah, much better."

"Good. Hurry up. Everyone's going to be here in a couple minutes.

Blaise took one last drag, put it out with his wand, and flushed it down the toilet. "Let's go," he said.

(A/N – I'm so, so sorry about the wait. I couldn't get anything out, and I also had to do a little research on Post Traumatic Stress disorder…so it took a little longer than usual. I'll try and get the next one up asap. Please review! Thanks.)


	23. Are You Saying I Need Therapy?

Chapter 22 – Are You Saying I Need Therapy? – Blaise's POV

Ron was lying with his head resting in my lap on the couch of the Weasleys living room when Hermione arrived. Harry had arrived a few minutes earlier and was upstairs in the bathroom. Fleur, Charlie, Tonks, and Bill were there, as well as Luna Lovegood and her father, Draco, and some other people I didn't know.

"Hi Ron, hi Blaise," Hermione said, smiling brightly. "Is Harry here yet?"

"Yeah, he's in the bathroom," Ron replied.

"Oh, ok." She went to sit on the couch and I moved my feet out of her way.

I was slightly nervous because of all the people at the house who I assumed were part of the order. People who didn't know me tended to judge me based on my father and it scared me. "Ron?" I whispered. He looked up at me. I held my hand out over his face so he could see it was shaking slightly.

"You want to go outside?" he asked. I nodded.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Mione," he said.

I lit up as soon as I got out the door. Ron leaned against the wall beside the door and looked at me with a glaze in his eye.

"You want to go for a walk?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Yeah…sure," I replied.

I followed him in the direction of the open field he had mentioned that they sometimes played quidditch on, but veered slightly left when we got near, into a small wooded area. We came to a small clearing with a long fallen log which had be carved and sanded flat on top to form a bench.

Ron sat cross legged on it and patted the space beside him, indicating for me to sit. I sat and lit a second smoke.

"Are you feeling ok?" Ron asked worriedly, after several minutes of undisturbed silence.

"Yeah…I was just a little nervous. I know I'm being paranoid but I feel like I'm being judged constantly." I lit a third smoke.

"You're chain smoking…" Ron pointed out.

I looked down. "Oh…I didn't even notice." Ron moved closer and slid his arms around my waist, resting his head on my shoulder and rubbing my back lightly.

"I worry about you."

"You shouldn't. I'm fine."

"Maybe you should see a doctor…" Ron suggested quietly.

I looked right into his eyes. "Are you saying I need therapy?" I asked sharply.

He backed off slightly. "Well…you should talk to someone…"

I softened. He just wanted me to be happy. "I can talk to you, can't I?"

He ran his fingers lightly through my hair and kissed my cheek. "Of course you can."

I dropped the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, before leaning against Ron's chest and resting my head on his shoulder.

"You smell like smoke…" he remarked.

I wrinkled my nose. "Is it bad?"

"No…I like it."

There was a rustling in the bushes and Bill came into the small clearing. "There you two are…what the hell?" he said questioningly.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Well if you're going to sneak off into the bushes you could at least be making out. I mean…come on!"

Rolled my eyes and rested my head back on Ron's chest, relaxing.

"Mum's looking for you," Bill said to Ron.

"What for?" Ron asked irritably.

"She wants help with dinner."

Ron groaned, his chest rumbled against my ear. "Can't you help her? Please?"

"And what do you propose I tell her you're doing?" Bill asked laughingly.

"How about the truth…talking."

Bill sighed. "Fine. But you still have to come back for dinner pretty soon."

"Ok. Thanks Bill."

And the eldest Weasley son trudged back towards the house.

I shivered slightly, the winter cold finally starting to get to me. Ron locked his arms tightly around me and breathed warm air on the back of my neck. I closed my eyes and relaxed completely.

I felt Ron's fingers slide into my hair as he started to twirl the longish strands around his fingers. I sighed contentedly. He twisted his fingers into it more tightly and tilted my head back, our lips meeting lightly at first, before his tongue pushed past my lips and he pushed me backwards until I was lying on my back, his warm form on top of me.

"We have to be back soon," I groaned as his knee slipped between my thighs.

"I don't care," he muttered against my neck.

"Somebody will come -ohh- looking for us," I panted.

"You taste so good," he whispered, running his tongue along the edge of my ear lightly.

"Ron, we have to, ohh shit, go back –ah, fuck it." I flipped him over and attacked his neck with my teeth.

"Silencing charm," he sighed winningly.

I pulled out my wand and muttered the incantation quickly. I was just about to toss the wand to the ground when Ron whispered, "Wait…do a warming charm as well." I cast the spell and dropped it to the ground, sliding my hands up under his shirt as a cloud of warmth spread around us.

I threw off his jumper and Cannons shirt and went for his belt buckle.

"Wait." Ron placed both hands on my hips and flipped me back over again. "You're bottoming."

"Um, no. I bottomed last night _and_ this morning," I said, flipping him back over.

"You know you like it," Ron said, trying to flip me back over again, but I spread out my weight and he could not move me.

"Oh, and you don't," I rolled my eyes. I reached for his belt again, and he gave in and relaxed.


	24. Cheaters And Wandless Magic

(A/N – Sorry about the really really really long wait!

Enjoy!)

Chapter 22 – Cheaters and Wandless Magic – Hermione's POV

"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" I heard Luna Lovegood ask as I climbed the stairs of the Burrow, looking for Harry.

"Oh… Sure Luna." I heard them walk into the closest room, Ginny's, and give the door a push, but it didn't close all the way.

I turned the corner at the top of the stairs and the hallway that Harry and Luna had just been in came into view. I walked towards the door to Ginny's room and pushed it open just as Luna pushed Harry up against the wall opposite and planted her lips on his.

I resisted the urge to scream in order to watch Harry's reaction. At first he froze in shock, then tried for a few moments to push the little slut away, before he relaxed and gave into the kiss, his arms snaking around his waist.

Breath catching in my throat, I stumbled silently down the hall and back down the stairs. I entered the living room just as Ron and Blaise returned through the back door, Ron with a big grin and Blaise with a smug smirk playing across his lips.

I stumbled across the room and collapsed into Ron's arms in tears, burying my face in his shoulder.

I sensed his jaw drop. "Uh – Mione? What's going on?"

I merely pointed over my shoulder at the staircase.

"Er… I'll go see," I heard Blaise stutter. His footsteps disappeared up the stairs.

After a few minutes I heard angry shouts, but I could not make out what they were saying until the shouting match made its way down the stairs.

"She already knows! She saw you, you bastard. She's down there crying right now!" Blaise shouted at Harry.

"No…shut up! I don't believe you."

Blaise entered the living room moments later. "See for yourself!" he shouted up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Ron asked, confused.

"Bastard was making out with Lovegood," Blaise said angrily.

This brought on a fresh wave of tears, and I sobbed into Ron's tearstained shirt.

"What… Harry? I don't-"

At this point Harry entered the living room, a purple tinge to his lips due to Luna's lipstick.

"Harry…?" Ron said, as if everything he had ever known was being pulled out from beneath his feet.

Harry ignored Ron. "Mione, I-"

I broke out of Ron's arms and ran out the back door and into the snow in only my socks. I took off for the forest.

Blaise followed me immediately, pausing only long enough to jam his feet into his shoes. Ron gave Harry one last, questioning look and followed us out the door.

I reached the wooded area and headed for the clearing in the middle with the log bench. By the time I reached the bench and collapsed onto it, my socks were soaked with melting snow.

Blaise arrived a few seconds later, pulling off his cloak as he ran. He draped it around my shoulders, as I was wearing only a thin sweater and a skirt. He buttoned it up the front, but I made no move to put my arms I the sleeves. It was warmer this way, anyways.

Just then, Ron came crashing through the trees, also pulling off his cloak. When he saw that I was already wearing Blaise's, he stopped. "Oh. Thanks," he whispered to Blaise.

"Of course."

"But…now _you're_ going to get cold," Ron said worriedly.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. Shh."

Ron sighed and sat down beside me, wrapping his arms around me. Tears flowed silently down my cheeks as I relaxed against his chest. Blaise sat down on my other side and rubbed my back soothingly.

"I can't believe this…" Ron sighed confusedly.

There was a rustling in the trees and Harry stepped out into the clearing. Blaise jumped up and pulled his wand.

"Leave. Now," he said dangerously.

After a brief pause, Harry responded quietly, "What are you going to do if I pull my wand on you? You're no match for me, you know."

Blaise looked a little nervous for a second, but then cleared the emotion from his face. "You're not of age," Blaise replied simply.

Harry sighed, "I just want to talk to her-"

"I don't give a **shit** what you want," Blaise cut him off. "She'll talk to you when she's good and ready. There is nothing I hate more than a cheater. Now leave." He stepped forward, his wand pointing at Harry's chest.

"You can't tell me what I can and cannot do," Harry said angrily, stepping forwards.

Blaise pressed his wand against Harry's throat and growled, "I know an awful lot of dark curses, Potter."

"Yeah? Learn those from your Death Eater father?" Harry prodded.

"Harry!" Ron yelled angrily.

Blaise dropped his wand to the ground and turned around, suddenly looking like a lost, hopeless puppy. But then, after a few moments, he turned around, the snarl back on his face. "You know why I'm so pissed about this? You want to know why I'm defending the poor girl? It's because you remind me of my father. I had to take care of my mother every time he went off with one of his little sluts. Fuck you!" he spat on Harry's feet.

Blaise's anger was such that as he went to reach for his wand, it lifted off the ground on its own and flew into his outstretched hand.

"This is your last chance," he said, almost calmly. "Leave now."

Harry turned around and stalked out of the forest.

Blaise slumped down on the log bench, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Oh, Merlin…I'm going to kill Harry," Ron sighed, gently rubbing Blaise's back.


End file.
